Johannesburg — In an unprecedented show of industry unity SA's telephone operators have called for government to rethink proposals for the telecommunications industry.

Government is being urged to reverse its decision to license two new operators to rival Telkom and revert to the original plan for just one new licence. Industry is also lobbying for a rethink of plans to allow stateowned signal carrier Sentech to handle international calls for consumers. It says both moves would erode the value of the licences and jeopardise government's chances of attracting serious bids.

Telkom and M-Cell, a potential bidder for a fixed-line licence, led the call for government to back down on plans to licence a third network operator.

Mobile operators are calling for clarity on plans to grant Telkom and its new rivals "fixedmobile" licences. More than R6bn has been wiped off M-Cell's value since the policy was released. MCell is MTN's parent company, and investors fear mobile operators face a less profitable future if fixed-line operators can also offer mobile services.

One analyst said government was unlikely to reject the new policy. "Government is trying to cut the costs of telephony and get around the inefficiencies of the operators because an efficient telephony system is good for economic growth. Licensing two new operators is brilliant for consumers and that's who government serves," she said.

Robert Nkuna, communications department spokesman, said: "People are just afraid of competition or they want any competition to be under their own rules. We finalised the policy only a few days ago and we don't see any need to change it."

The Independent Communications Authority of SA has published proposed regulations on how the two new operators should co-operate on number portability and facilities leasing.