29 July 2008
THE Information and Communications Bill, which is in its final drafting stage before being presented to Cabinet and then to Parliament before becoming law, would address many concerns of the telecommunications industry, the Minister of Information and Communication Technology said yesterday.
Minister Joel Kaapanda said the drafting of the eagerly awaited bill was an industry-wide effort and would be an "inclusive" law.
Kaapanda said this when he received a delegation from Cell One mobile operator.
Welcoming the delegation, the minister said that Cell One was the first mobile operator to request an audience with him since the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was renamed with the added responsibility of the communications and information technology portfolio.
The Minister said he was impressed by the newcomer's efforts to expand its footprints across the country.
Informing the delegation about his brief, Kaapanda said the aim of the Ministry was to provide necessary policies and legislation to make Namibia a knowledge-based society.
Leake Hangala, Cell One Director Corporate Strategy and Business Development, who introduced his team to the minister, said his company had so far invested N$600 million with its footprint reaching about 70 per cent of the country's population.
After the introductory remarks the media were excused for the two teams to hold a closed-door meeting.
The agenda of the meeting provided to the media included the status of the Communications Bill and regulations and competition in the industry.
At the beginning of this month Cell One shared with the media its concerns about "unfair pricing" in the mobile communications industry.
At the time, Cell One's CEO, Frode Haugen, said the interconnect tariffs in the country were "too high and unfair" to consumers.
The interconnect tariff is a rate agreed to by industry players and paid by customers calling from one network to the other.
Haugen said these costs were prohibitive for new investors in the market and also for the consumer.
He called on the Namibia Communications Commission to intervene in the matter to ensure fair pricing.
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