[21 September 2016]

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has issued a statement regarding resellers exempt from licensing for electronic communication services.

“In line with compliance with the licensing framework and the related regulations, all entities that operate as resellers are required to register with the Authority prior to embarking on the activity.

List of currently registered resellers in the market

Any entity that is not listed means it is not registered with the Authority as a reseller, hence is operating illegally.

Kindly take guidance from:

1. Section 6 of the ECA;
2. Section 7 of the ECA;
3. Regulations regarding Licence Exempt Electronic Communications networks, Electronic Communications Network Services and Electronic Communications Services in terms of section 6 of the Electronic communications Act, 2005 as amended, published 29 July 2008, gazette No.31289
4. Form M in the Licensing Process and Procedure  Amendment regulations 2010, published 14 June 2010, gazette No.33297

All entities that partake in the activity of reselling any licensed services to the public are thus required to register with the regulator, kindly ensure that such entities reselling your services are doing so within the regulatory and legislative requirements. Provincial inspection will be conducted in due course to ensure adherence to the requirements.”

Notice published by ICASA 

[29 December 2015]

ICASA is investigating the resale of electronic communication services (ECS) and networks (ECNS) through a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA). This assessment aims to identify any problems in the resale market and determine the most suitable response. The options range from taking no action (forbearance) to creating new regulations or suggesting changes to existing ones.

ICASA has completed the first stage of the RIA, involving consultations with licensees and stakeholders through a questionnaire. Based on this, they’ve outlined the identified issues and presented potential solutions for moving forward.

RIA – Reseller Informal Questionnaire Phase I 

General Notice -RIA – ECS-ECNS Reseller – Problem Statement 20 Dec 2015

ICASA’s challenges are clearly outlined in the problem statement.

At present it is difficult to know the exact number of resellers in the market due to lack of clarity on what a reseller is as well as the exemption process. There is no existing criteria that entities can use in order to identify themselves as resellers in order to apply for the exemption as contemplated by the ECA. Different upstream providers whom are licence holders engage resellers differently, with some requiring entities to hold licences.

There is no linkage between entities operating as resellers and mechanism in place to hold resellers accountable and responsible for the products and services they provide in the market. Likewise there is no mechanism to link the upstream provider with reseller so as to hold the two accountable and responsible for the products and services
in the market.