CRAN closer to sharing infrastructure
The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) hosted the second public hearing this week on the proposed infrastructure sharing regulations.
The communications regulator said this hearing was the final opportunity for stakeholders from the industry, local authorities, utilities and other concerned parties, to make submissions and provide further input on the content of the draft regulations.
“The Communications Act requires telecommunications and broadcasting service licensees and utilities to share infrastructure in order to promote competition. All carriers or holders of service technology neutral service licences and or utilities must therefore share infrastructure with other licensees or allow the latter to install and or utilise telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure in line with the provisions of the Communications Act and regulations as published by CRAN”, said Festus Mbandeka, Chief Executive Officer at CRAN.
Sections 48 and 50 of the Communications Act set out that conditions and charges pertaining to the sharing of infrastructure must be reasonable, non-discriminatory and fairly apportioned among licensees and utilities.
“CRAN, however, has no jurisdiction over the strategic business decisions of licensees. What we wish to see through these and other regulations is that business decisions by licensees should at all times be lawful to safeguard our environment and to ensure fair competition, for all the players and protection of the industry and consumers alike” said Mbandeka.
Some of the key advantages of infrastructure sharing are the reduction in capital and operational investment, lowering of environmental impact and energy requirements and the creation of new revenue streams.
