South Africa’s Vodacom, Telkom welcome ECA bill withdrawal

JOHANNESBURG, – South African mobile network operators Vodacom and Telkom on Wednesday welcomed a government decision to withdraw a bill, which proposed taking back licensed spectrum from operators and forcing them to share a national network.

On Tuesday the Minister of Communications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams withdrew the Electronic Communications Amendment (ECA) Bill, which was put before parliament in October 2018, to allow for further consultations and to align it with a drive towards a more digital economy.

The withdrawal was also because parliament was unlikely to finalise the bill during the remainder of the current term, the ministry of communications said in a statement.