Submissions will inform ICASA’s assessment of the demand and impact of issuing new I-ECNS licences.
REGULATORS BOW TO BIG TELCO PRESSURE in a SHOCKING move that could see YOUR internet costs SKYROCKET and digital freedom VANISH. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has been FORCED to extend a critical deadline after a cabal of powerful industry stakeholders DEMANDED more time to shape a process that will LOCK DOWN the nation’s digital infrastructure for a GENERATION.
This isn’t about bureaucracy—it’s a BRAZEN POWER GRAB. The 20-year I-ECNS licences at stake grant MONOPOLISTIC CONTROL over the very fibre and radio waves that power our lives. The so-called “inquiry” is a SMOKESCREEN, a rigged game where the public’s voice is DROWNED OUT by corporate giants seeking to carve up South Africa’s digital future behind closed doors.
This is the FIRST review since a landmark 2005 judgement, and insiders are TERRIFIED. By extending the submission window, ICASA is allowing the telecom titans to craft responses that will justify FEWER licences, LESS competition, and TOTAL CONTROL. This means higher prices, slower speeds, and a digital landscape where innovation is CRUSHED under the boot of a state-sanctioned oligopoly.
The chairperson’s plea for “detailed and comprehensive” responses is a DARKLY IRONIC signal: only the well-funded lobbyists have the resources to comply, leaving ordinary citizens and small businesses OUT IN THE COLD. This isn’t regulation—it’s the FINAL AUCTION of South Africa’s digital soul to the highest bidders.
Your connectivity, your data, and your very access to information are now on the block, sold to the same entities that have FAILED the public for decades. The digital divide is about to become a permanent chasm, and the regulators are handing the powerful the shovel. This is how a nation’s future is quietly strangled in a boardroom.
Author: Kayitsi.com
