Download - Media Institute of Southern Africa

State of the media in Southern Africa 2002
Namibia’s Communications Bill, which will establish a new communications
regulator, the Communications Authority of Namibia (CAN), to regulate private
telecommunications, broadcasting and postal services, will be presented in
Cabinet early in the new year, after which the Bill will be debated in Parliament.
In terms of the draft Bill, all private broadcasters, telecommunications operators,
and postal service companies will be regulated by CAN. However, Namibia’s
national broadcaster, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), will not
fall under CAN’s jurisdiction in terms of the draft Bill, and presumably will continue
to be regulated by government directly.
The draft Bill states that CAN will be an “independent” regulator. However, in
terms of the draft Bill, the authority’s decision-making Board of directors will be
appointed by the Minister responsible for Information and Broadcasting. Currently,
the President runs this portfolio.
According to press reports the incumbent regulator, the Namibian Communications
Commission (NCC), on Wednesday December 18, 2002, announced the
appointment of German consultancy firm DETECON International to oversee
the bidding for a second cellular phone license.
The NCC has therefore kicked off the process to license a second cellular phone
company before major legislation reforming the regulation of the communications
industry has been tabled in Parliament.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) questions the launch of the process
of licensing a second cell phone operator before the pending reform of the
communications sector has been debated in Parliament.
As it is, MISA takes issue with many aspects of the draft Communications Bill,
which we believe falls short of international standards - notably the SADC Protocol
on Information, Culture and Sport adopted by Namibia’s National Assembly
earlier in the year - governing broadcasting and the regulation of communications
in general.
There appear to be similarities between the current process for licensing of the
second cell phone company, and the deregulation of broadcasting back in the
early ’90s. Then Namibia’s first commercial television broadcaster, M-Net, started
broadcasting before the relevant legislation had been passed. The business arm of
the ruling SWAPO Party, Kalahari Holdings, was - and remains - the majority
shareholder in Multichoice Namibia, the company which launched M-Net.
Enquiries:
Tracey Naughton
Regional Broadcast Program Manager
So This Is Democracy? 309