Bacher believes in an open market, and says that local loop unbundling is the key to reaching that goal. He adds that co-opetition between Telkom, the SNO, government and the private sector is the only answer for making digital cities and e-services a reality.

Hutchison says it all boils down to who will get what licences, such as Private Telecoms Network licences (PTN) and Value Added Network Services licences (VANS), as well as the ability to re-sell spare bandwidth capacity.

These issues are still under discussion, but it seems that Icasa has been given more freedom in deciding who will be allowed certain licences, and it seems probable that municipalities will be able to re-sell spare bandwidth capacity to service providers.

Yes, the telecoms market was opened to an extent in February this year, but the rules and regulations of playing the game have not yet been clearly defined, specifically regarding licensing, interconnection, the re-selling of spare capacity and local loop unbundling.

There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel, with the Electronic Communication Bill (Convergence Bill) having been adopted by the National Assembly, and sent to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for approval. It is expected to be signed into law by the president before the end of the year.