The Free Market Foundation (FMF) on Monday said the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) was incorrect in asserting that the new National Integrated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy White Paper had the support and backing of industry.

The ICT White Paper is a “bad policy” with radical proposals that would likely see the process head for the courts and further tie up the industry in many years of litigation, the organisation said in a statement.

“This is not good news for South African consumers of mobile Internet,” FMF warned in a statement, slamming the DTPS’s implication in an earlier statement that it had secured implied across-the-board consensus and backing for the introduction of a wholesale open-access network (Woan).

With the backing and “widespread industry support” from the six mobile network operators and 300 industry representatives in attendance at consultations held in February, emphasis had shifted from proposals to implementation, the DTPS had said in a statement.

“Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele’s disingenuousness does not reflect the truth. The industry is reeling from shock after discovering that the four-year process, from initial discussions to White Paper, has resulted in a policy that would radically reorganise a successful private industry and damage mobile user experience and access to the latest technologies,” FMF said.

In particular, three proposals had raised the red flag for the FMF, including the proposal to implement a Woan, with access that must be offered at cost-based pricing and the taking back of spectrum already allocated to operators who have invested heavily in infrastructure.

“South Africa’s Internet success story is one of few post-1994 success stories; with coverage, quality and access to mobile devices that outperforms many developing country peers. It does not need fixing,” the FMF concluded.