On Monday, August 15, the partners in the country’s (South Africa) second fixed line operator (the SNO) made history when they signed the shareholder’s agreement, a major milestone on the part of the shareholders in their task of setting up the long-awaited SNO. Earlier this year, in February, the minister of communications completed the selection of shareholders for the SNO in announcing that the Tata / VSNL Consortium from India would be the controlling stakeholder in the Strategic Equity Partner Company (SEPCO), which in turn has a 51 per cent stake in the SNO. Since then the Shareholders have, as required by the minister, completed a business plan for the SNO and finalised the shareholders agreement.

A steering committee comprising senior representatives from the SNO shareholders has been working on the documents which are now under submission to ICASA. It is anticipated that ICASA would shortly engage the SNO in determining the terms of the license and that this process will speedily culminate in the issuance of the license.

The launch of the SNO is yet another major milestone in the liberalisation of the South African communications industry. The second national operator will hold a public switched telecommunication service (PSTS) licence, as stipulated in the Telecommunication Act of 1996, as amended in 2001. The said license would allow the SNO to offer a wide range of telecommunications services, equivalent in scope to the incumbent carrier, including voice, data, and limited-mobility access. The business launch for the SNO is expected to take place within a period of about six to nine months from award of the licence.