3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The digital donga: universal access and service in South Africa (1994 - 2014)(2018) Lewis, CharleyAt the dawn of South Africa’s democracy, the majority of its citizens, black, poor and disenfranchised, found themselves at the far side of a deep digital donga1, cut off from telephony infrastructure, services and content. At the same time a movement to reform the telecommunications sector was sweeping the globe, driven by technological change, business imperatives and shifting market structures. Its vehicles were a loose cluster of international telecommunications institutions, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the WTO. It called for a fundamental overhaul of existing telecommunications regimes, prescribing in their stead: the privatisation of state-owned monopoly telephone incumbents, the introduction of competition into the telecommunications market, and the establishment of independent regulation of the ICT sector. And it developed and espoused a series of international ‘best practice’ interventions designed to ensure the universal availability and affordability of telecommunications services for those individuals and communities too poor or too remote to enjoy access to ICT infrastructure, services and content. From 1994, the incoming ANC government embarked on a fundamental reform of the country’s telecommunications sector, through a consultative process that led to the passage of legislation that was to shape the country’s ICT sector going forward. In addition to creating an independent regulator, and to providing for ‘managed liberalisation’ of the sector, this included extensive provisions designed to ensure universal, affordable access to telecommunications for all South Africans, particularly the country’s poor, black, rural majority. Rollout and service obligations were imposed on licensees. Levies were collected from licensees, into a fund designed to finance the extension of ICT infrastructure and to support ‘needy persons’ in securing access to telecommunications services. A dedicated agency was created to manage the fund, and to advance and promote the cause of universal access and service. Some years later a series of licences were awarded to small-scale entrepreneurs in order to provide telecommunications services to under-serviced areas. 1 South African term for a narrow, steep-sided, dry gully formed by water erosion. This study documents the rise of international best practice for universal access and service, and examines how this influenced South Africa’s adoption of the specific mix of interventions listed above. The study then proceeds to examine the implementation track record in respect of each of the key interventions listed above, identifying and accounting for the relative degree of policy success and failure in each case. The study is informed by regime theory to account for the rise of the precepts of international ‘best practice’ in respect of universal access and service. It further uses policy diffusion and transfer theory to examine how international practices were adopted and adapted by South African policy-makers and regulators. Finally, the literature on policy success and failure is used to examine and account for the implementation track record in respect of each of the key interventions. The outcomes are shown to be at best mixed, often precarious or conflicted, with multiple instances of outright failure. Finally, conclusions are drawn regarding the applicability and value of the conceptual framework adopted. Regime theory, along with the concept of epistemic communities, and the theory of policy diffusion, are shown to offer a valuable structural framework for case study research such as this, albeit with some limitations. Despite the implementation of universal access and service interventions having largely failed, a long-term paradigm shift in the ICT landscape has resulted, suggesting that theoretical and practical questions of policy success and failure may need further examinationItem An innovative approach to the regulation of equipment authorisation in developing countries: a grounded theory study of South Africa(2017) Ruplal, Praneel HaricharanThe current theoretical approach to equipment authorisation (EA) regulation has proven problematic to resource-poor countries. EA is the technical and administrative process that all electronic communications equipment are subject to before sale and use. EA involves checking the technical characteristics of equipment, by dedicated test facilities, to national or international standards which are enforced by the regulatory authority. Initial research in the South African EA environment has revealed several real-world trends that show that the current approach to EA regulation has limitations when faced with a changing electronic communications (EC) landscape. The general theories of public interest and the economic theory of regulation only broadly form the theoretical basis for EA regulation. The narrow focus of the thesis in developing an innovative approach to EA regulation, in the context of a developing country, required seeing beyond the existing theory surveyed in the literature. Using a Straussian approach to grounded theory, the epistemology of the EA environment is studied inductively via a post-modernistic interpretative framework. The research finds that the EA framework, applicable to efficiency driven and transitional countries with a relatively rich EA testing infrastructure, is predicated on a calculated concept of trust. The regulatory authority employs a tacit computational mechanism to determine the level of trust when dealing with EA applications. The rationale for such an approach is largely driven by sub-optimal decision heuristics available to the regulator, as a result of an inability to corroborate technical data associated with the EA process. The regulator thus applies a differential trust paradigm based on determining factors such as salience. A future knowledge-based approach to EA regulation is theorised, in which technology innovation assimilated from other EA environments, is applied to the EA process to improve ii institutional efficiency. The goal of applying technology and innovation to the EA process is ultimately centred around increasing the trust value proposition.Item Radio spectrum reforms and associated effects on market liberalisation(2016) Lesufi, Cynthia LeungoThere is a common opinion among researchers and experts that efficient management of radio spectrum plays a vital role in ensuring universal access to telecommunications services. The objective of this study was to identify radio spectrum reforms and their associated effects on market liberalisation. It was postulated that appropriate radio spectrum reforms would be catalysts for market liberalisation. The evolution of command-and-control approaches in relation to market-based approaches was assessed. The research involved literature critique, review of policies as that relates to history of radio spectrum management in South Africa and across the world, and radio spectrum regulations analysis in South Africa. Interviews of radio spectrum industry experts and documents study of the evolution of telecommunications regulatory environment with respect to radio spectrum management and market liberalisation were also used as main sources of research. The purpose of the literature critique, review of policies, regulations and documents was to identify hints of radio spectrum reforms and measure qualitatively the extent of market liberalisation. While interviews of radio spectrum industry experts were used to ascertain industry response to strides made as far as radio spectrum and market liberalisation in South Africa. It was observed that initially, in most parts of the world and in South Africa, market liberalisation progressed quickly despite appreciable correlation with radio spectrum reforms. Early radio spectrum reforms, such as the establishment of an independent regulator of the industry and radio spectrum, had contributed to some level of market liberalisation with creation of oligopolistic telecommunication market, and had increased to radio spectrum by Vodacom, MTN and Cell C having access to both 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands. However, perpetual practise of command-and-control, an efficient radio spectrum management encouraged hoarding. The literature review and interview provided seven main contributions of reforms in the form of strides. These strides formed the basis for the research framework: 1) establishment of an independent regulator of the industry and radio spectrum, 2) increased access to radio spectrum, 3) service and technology neutrality on radio spectrum, 4) essential facilities to enable sharing, 5) market-based approaches radio spectrum pricing: AIP, 6) service-based competition versus infrastructure-based competition, and 7) non-rival, non-exclusive usage of radio spectrum. The conclusion is that increasing access to radio spectrum and the independent regulator were not primary determinants of market liberalisation. An analytic framework has been used to show that market liberalisation reached a plateau phase, with a few incumbents becoming dominant and creating an oligopolistic market structure. It is at this point that further market liberalisation could be stimulated by additional radio spectrum reforms. The command-and-control approach remains the main bottleneck source for access and efficiency in radio spectrum management, which encourages rival and exclusive use of radio spectrum. It has been observed that market-based radio spectrum reforms have also entrenched rivalry and exclusivity in the use of radio spectrum. Radio spectrum reforms that encourage non-rivalry and non-exclusivity, such as open-access to radio spectrum, are highly recommended in this research.