1. The South African Communications Forum (SACF) is an industry association that
represents a broad cross section of members in the ICT ecosystem. Our
members include licensees who rollout networks and equipment
manufacturers as well as platform owners who are all affected by the rollout of
infrastructure nationally.
2. Should there be any further public participation, the SACF would be happy to
participate in expanding on our submission.
3. The SACF welcomes the opportunity to comment on the above standard draft
by-laws. The SACF welcomes the Department’s aim to standardize bylaws and
guidelines for the deployment of electronics facilities across municipalities
nationally creating a standard set of rules for rapid deployment.
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
2
4. Wayleave application processes across municipalities are divergent by process,
fees and timeframes which has delayed the rollout of infrastructure across
municipalities, the draft bylaws in our view will go a long way to standardizing
the process. We are hopeful that it will expedite the process contributing to the
digital transformation of the economy removing traditional geographic
disparities.
General Comments
Context
5. For close to two and half decades South Africa has been in pursuit of
stimulating economic growth nationally and removing the geographic barriers
of infrastructure to access to facilities and stimulating economic activity in
more remote areas. Over the last while, there has also been a significant talk
about the 4th Industrial Revolution which saw the establishment of a Presidential
Commission and the creation of various masterplans. All of this is premised on
access to infrastructure to promote a digital economy and increased
participation by all sectors of the economy and people across all LSMs.
6. The COVID 19 pandemic rapidly and firmly thrust the country and the globe
into the environment that we have discussed and planned for. In a matter of
days, everyone was sent home to work and learn from home. All social
activities too had to move online in an instant.
7. People in areas that had access to infrastructure and services were able to
transition easily and quickly while it was harder for those did not have access.
This highlighted the critical need for and importance of access to critical digital
infrastructure.
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
3
8. A key trend that we have found across our own members and in other sectors
as well as a result of media reports is that people have used the opportunity of
the COVID 19 pandemic to live and work differently which saw people moving
away from urban areas to more scenic and relaxed areas of the country as
well as to their traditional homes. The result was that we now had a greater
distribution of economic activity nationally. This however, is and remains
dependent on access to highspeed connectivity.
9. Post pandemic, work and study from home models have been sustained raising
the need for improved connectivity for households in residential areas.
Furthermore, the migration of skilled workers from mostly well-developed urban
areas to work from their towns and villages of origin or smaller towns because
of lifestyle preferences, requires that network capacity changes be facilitated
in areas outside of traditionally prioritized urban centers.
10. Over pricing Wayleaves serves as a deterrent to increased investment in these
areas that traditionally were not provide a sufficiently high-ROI for network
expansion or capacity improvement business models to be sustained by
private sector. Removing the barrier of often prohibitively high-cost Wayleaves
eases the conditions for investors to obtain the necessary Wayleaves for more
seamless deployment of highly critical communications infrastructure where
the need for quality connectivity continues to grow.
11. Several correlations have been established over the years between
Broadband penetration and adoption with impacts on the GDP of countries or
on job creation. Digitalisation, of course, has a significant dependency on high
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
4
quality Broadband being pervasive and easily accessible to all households and
all organizations. An Ericsson and Arthur D. Little study concluded that for every
10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration GDP increases by 1
percent (adlittle, nd).
13. A 2022 study by Huawei and IDC showed a clear multiplier effect of a Digital
First Economy performance on GDP growth such that a one-point increase in
DFE score correlated with 3% growth in GDP. And every $1 dollar of ICT
investment drives $13 in GDP output. This is more than double the returns
compared to that shown in 2016.
12. More recent studies have focused on establishing correlations between
digitalisation and GDP growth. Some of these are indicated below:
§ The Digitization Index was found to have a positive and significant effect at the
5 per cent level indicating a strong effect on economic output. A ten-point
increase in the Digitization Index had approximately a 3 per cent impact on
GDP for the period 2004-2010 resulting on an annualized effect of 0.50 per cent
(ITU, 2020).
§ The Digital Ecosystem Development Index was run for 73 countries for the
period 2004-2015, which resulted in 803 observations, and included fixed effects
by country (Katz and Callorda, 2018). According to the model, an increase of
1 per cent in the Digital Ecosystem Development Index results in a 0.13 per cent
growth in GDP per capita. This means, for example, that an increase in the
Digital Ecosystem Development Index from 50 to 51 will yield an increase of per
capita GDP of 0.26 per cent (accounting both for direct and indirect effects
on output).
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
5
14. During the COVID 19 pandemic the ICT industry, the Department of
Communications and Digital Technologies and COGTA worked together to
ensure that permissions to rollout infrastructure and consequently services was
expedited. It provided an excellent example of what can be achieved by
collaboration. The SACF is of the view that this process ought to expand upon
the case study that has been developed while ensuring the preservation of
environments and effective community participation.
Specific Comments
15. While, the policy direction explicitly acknowledges that this policy does not
apply to fees charged by local government and other government
organizations, permitting has been one of the most consequential delays in the
rollout of infrastructure. The most concerning elements that severely impacts
the rollout of services is:
i) Delays in permitting;
ii) Cost of permitting
16. Our members have noted significant delays in permitting, the delays vary from
several weeks to several months. While, we appreciate that jurisdiction over
local government lies outside of the DCDT, we are optimistic that the recent
conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the DCDT
and COGTA will contribute to reducing the turnaround times for wayleaves.
17. While, a tariff structure has not been included in the draft By-Law in this
consultation, it is critical that a tariff model be addressed as there is no
standardization of tariffs with a trend in tariffs being raised exponentially which
negatively impacts the numerous initiatives to ensure that the cost to
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
6
communicate is as low as is possible. In addition, we have noted the inclusion
of additional elements in the pricing structure such as deposits in the region of
R250 000. In addition to this some municipalities have introduced differentiated
tariffs for wayleaves for ICT infrastructure and non-ICT infrastructure. Such
significant deposits, while refundable increase the costs of rollout. Licensees
typically use contractors that are smaller companies to roll out infrastructure,
therefore, the introduction of high deposits very severely impacts their
continued operation.
18. With the implementation of this policy all permit approvals and obligations as
per municipality bylaws will continue to be followed as before.
19. However, many bylaws differ across different municipalities particularly around
processes and most especially around costs. The need for standardization in
processes and cost models across municipalities is urgent. Unification of cost
models across municipalities is imperative – there must be certain principles to
guide costing to limit variation on pricing models employed by municipalities.
These highway leave costs are challenging business cases. It is necessary for
exorbitant way leave costs to be brought under control balancing the need
for rapid development of cities and municipalities with sustaining and growing
important revenue streams for local governments.
20. Therefore, the SACF would strongly urge the Department as a result of its
overarching role to embark on an initiative to standardize tariffs such that they
are based on the administrative cost as set out in the Integrated ICT White
Paper. This would contribute to the broader initiative of reducing the cost to
communicate.
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
7
21. As far back as 1998 with first recommendations on definitions of universal
service and access, there was a recommendation that all new developments
must include ICT infrastructure as there would be for electricity and water.
Similarly, as local government infrastructure is rolled out, so too ICT infrastructure
form part town planning. This is likely to contribute significantly to the national
programme of reducing the cost to communicate as civil works account for
about 70% of the cost infrastructure deployment.
22. National priority of reducing the cost to communicate
It has been a national priority over the past several years where Government has had
a concerted effort to reduce the cost to communicate as has been seen in the
programmes by ICASA and the Competition Commission to reduce the cost of voice
and data. There has been a significant downward pricing trend at the behest of
Government in recognition of critical role that infrastructure plays in a digital economy.
The SACF’s Specific Comments
23. The SACF welcomes the approach to create a standard set of rules that will
contribute to increasing the speed of rollouts of network infrastructure across
the country. This is critical to ensure ubiquitous access across the country.
24. Our specific comments on the submission are included below and largely fall
into the following themes:
a. Speed
Speed is of the essence in the granting of permits to rollout as
unnecessary delays are expensive prejudice communities, typically the
more marginalized communities. The processing of applications during
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
8
the COVID 19 pandemic provided an excellent case study of how with
collaboration, much can be achieved quickly and efficiently.
b. Cost
The Application Process
25. The SACF notes that the draft policy provides for applications for wayleaves to
be done manually as well as online. The SACF would strongly urge COGTA to
consider a sunset clause for all manual applications, ultimately achieving a
completely digital process. As these are businesses and would in our view be
able to submit applications online. We are of the view that this will enhance
the process tending towards an efficient and effective process. This becomes
especially important in a rapid deployment environment.
26. Examples of municipalities where this has been done are the Ethekweni and
Cape Town metropolitan municipalities. The automated process allows for
improvement SLA management, fault detection and response and a more
seamless experience for turning around Wayleave applications for both the
industry and the municipality.
27. For more municipalities to move the end-to-end Wayleave application process
online there is a dependency on staff training and upskilling. This would need
to be part of the change management process to ensure a successful switch
from manual to online. Accordingly, there ought to be a sunset clause for the
switch from manual to online systems.
28. There may be possible delays with application processing during this period
requiring a dual parallel process for the processing of wayleave applications
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
9
during this period of migrating from a wholly or still part-manual process to an
automated process. This must be in keeping with the overall turnaround time
stipulated in the final version of the proposed bylaws for rapid deployment of
electronic communications facilities.
29. The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) has
established a structure known as the Rapid Deployment Co-ordinating
Committee (RDCC) aimed at facilitating infrastructure rollout and addressing
bottlenecks and includes many stakeholders in This would be an ideal platform
to monitor progress of automating the end-to-end Wayleave application
process. This should ideally be done annually for reporting to the RDCC.
30. The Draft Policy provides for the processing of wayleaves within 30 working days
which translates into six (6) weeks. This is of concern to the SACF as 6 weeks
cannot be considered the rapid processes. This is a significant improvement on
the current timeframes although it does not go far enough.
Standard Application Process
31. The SACF would like to propose 12 working days which is close to two and a
half weeks for a wayleave to be processed with the possibility of an extension
of a further 10 days in instances where the first 12 days isn’t possible. The criteria
for extensions should be clearly defined and the criterion set out clearly for ease
of reference and transparency.
General Application process
32. Wayleaves are routine and ought to be a standard process across all
municipalities that attracts a standardized fee that covers the administrative
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
10
costs associated with the processing of wayleaves. Keeping the cost as low as
is possible is essential to aligning with the national priority of reducing the cost
to communicate.
33. Substantial variability exists in wayleave costs across municipalities. A costbased pricing model for Wayleaves is preferred aligned with goals to reduce
the digital divide with access and affordability barriers. Post pandemic, work
and study from home models have been sustained raising the need for
improved connectivity for households in residential areas. Furthermore, the
migration of skilled workers from mostly well-developed urban areas to work
from their towns and villages of origin or smaller towns of preference for quality
of life reasons, requires that network capacity changes be facilitated in areas
outside of traditionally prioritized urban centers.
34. Over pricing Wayleaves serves as a deterrent to increased investment in these
areas that traditionally were not provide a sufficiently high-ROI for network
expansion or capacity improvement business models to be sustained by
private sector. Removing the barrier of often prohibitively high-cost wayleaves
eases the conditions for investors to obtain the necessary Wayleaves for more
seamless deployment of highly critical communications infrastructure where
the need for quality connectivity continues to grow.
35. Several correlations have been established over the years between
Broadband penetration and adoption with impacts on the GDP of countries or
on job creation. Digitalisation, of course, has a significant dependency on high
quality Broadband being pervasive and easily accessible to all households and
all organizations. An Ericsson and Arthur D. Little study concluded that for every
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
11
10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration GDP increases by 1
percent (adlittle, nd).
36. Perhaps, fees ought to be prescribed at the national level even though they
be implemented at the level of local government. Perhaps a similar model to
that of car and driver’s licences could be considered.
Emergency and Maintenance Works
37. Electronic communications networks licensed under the Electronic
Communications Act (ECA) 35 of 2005, are given a prescribed period to repair
faults. The End User and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations sets out the
timeframes for the repairs of faults and restoration of service without the
licensee attracting a fine.
38. The timeframes for the grant of wayleaves for emergency and maintenance
services should be aligned to these regulations. In addition, the harm resulting
from service interruptions is likely to be significantly greater.
Provisions for Extenuating circumstances
39. The July 2021 unrest and riots in KwaZulu Natal highlighted the critical need to
have a robust flexible system that is capable of absorbing shocks like the riots.
As we understand it a wayleave one granted is valid for a period of 90 days
from the date of issue and if not used in that period expires and the process
would need to begin afresh should the validity of the wayleave expire.
40. The SACF urges COGTA to consider an truncated approach to extend the
duration of wayleaves if granted in exceptional circumstances such as these.
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
12
The lapsing of wayleaves and reapplication would be an expensive and
arduous exercise for both the applicants and the municipality. Therefore, the
SACF proposes a simple but considerably shortened process that uniformly
increases the period.
Standardisation of Tariffs
41. The SACF notes a substantial variation of tariffs apply to wayleave across
municipalities. The substantive tariff variation from municipality to municipality
is difficult to understand the significant tariff variation from municipality to
municipality.
42. We have noted the significant tariff increases in municipalities like Tshwane for
wayleaves for ICTs compared with the pricing for wayleaves for non-ICT
services. The tariffs for ICTs wayleaves are significantly higher than wayleaves
for non-ICT services. This is contrary to the national priority project to reduce
the cost to communicate. Therefore, the SACF proposes that the draft policy
includes a cost-based pricing model for wayleaves.
Conclusion
43. The SACF welcomes the consultation on the draft By-laws and would like to see
the following:
– The expedited processing of wayleave applications especially for ICT
infrastructure due to its critical importance to economic growth and
development;
– The use and implementation of a comprehensive online system that
o tracks infrastructure that contributes the reduction of unnecessary
duplication of infrastructure,
SACF Comments on Draft Standard Draft By-laws for the Deployment of Electronic
Communications and Facilities issued in terms of the Local Government:
Municipality Systems Action, 2002
(ACT No. 32 of 2000)
13
o reduces the timeframes for the processing of wayleave applications
and increases transparency;
o helps identify bottlenecks, and ultimately increases efficiency and
reduces costs.
44. The SACF would welcome the opportunity to engage further on our submission
and participate in hearings, workshops and or other engagements in this
regard.
Sincerely,
Katharina Pillay
Managing Director
(Unsigned due to electronic transmission)