The finalisation of the long-awaited local-loop unbundling (LLU) regulations have been delayed, once again, after the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) reported an error in the draft publication of August 7.
“… due to an error in publication of a page of definitions in the draft ‘bitstream and shared/full loop’ regulations, the authority hereby repeals these regulations and a revised set of regulations will be published in due course,” the regulator said in a statement on Friday.
Interested parties initially had until Monday to comment on the now revoked document.
Icasa stated that once the regulations were reissued, the public would have 30 days to respond.
The regulations governing LLU, which would give Telkom’s rivals access to the ‘last mile’ on its network at a wholesale price, have been hotly debated and have been delayed several times over the past few years.
Icasa had set a target of having the LLU regulations finalised by November 2011, in line with a 2007 report, commissioned by then Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
The regulator had also expected to publish the draft regulations for public comment on July 16 this year, before it eventually tabled the document for public comment on August 7.
LLU is believed to be one of the last remaining barriers to be overcome in the quest for a more affordable and competitive information and communication technologies landscape in South Africa.