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Cell C’s empowerment partner CellSaf on Thursday called on the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa to provide reasons for its decision to accept that Cell C’s notification of a change in the network’s shareholding is procedurally correct.
CellSaf chairperson Daphne Mashile-Nkosi also called on Icasa to follow due process with respect to all of the issues raised in the CellSaf complaint as soon as possible.
On Wednesday, Cell C announced that it had received notification from Icasa that it had followed the correct process in the notification of its Blue Label Telecoms recapitalisation transaction and that it had complied with all applicable regulations.
Mashile-Nkosi said: “We see that Cell C has already jumped the gun by claiming that the ruling addresses ‘all applicable regulations’. Icasa’s letter to CellSaf says no such thing, and Cell C is well aware of that. It would appear to me that Cell C’s statement may be misleading the market, whether by negligence or by design, or that Cell C may be claiming some inside knowledge of Icasa’s internal workings and future rulings.”
Cell C said that the participation of historically disadvantaged persons in Cell C had increased from about 25% to more than 30% at ownership level. CellSaf has put the total empowerment stake in Cell C at 20%.
CellSaf said on Thursday that it noted that Icasa had not yet dealt with the substance of the complaint against the Cell C recapitalisation.
On August 30, Icasa issued a statement acknowledging that it had received a notification from Cell C regarding the change of shareholding at the company: “The authority has considered the notification, and the preliminary view is that the Cell C recapitalisation transaction – on the face of it – triggers the provisions of section 13 of the Electronic Communications Act of 2015 and ought to have been filed as an application for change of control of the licensee.”
CellSaf said it had raised “a number of issues with the proposed recapitalisation, including Cell C’s apparent contravention of its licence conditions, legislation and regulations relating to prior approval of a change in control of a licensed entity, breaches of competition legislation and an unlawful reduction in its broad-based black economic empowerment shareholding and control”.
CellSaf said it had received a letter from Icasa on Wednesday that indicated that it had accepted Cell C’s notification of change of shareholding.
Icasa also indicated in the letter to CellSaf that it was still considering the remaining aspects of CellSaf’s complaint, to which it will respond “in due course”.
“CellSaf’s view is that Icasa must deal with the substance of the complaint before deciding on purely procedural questions. CellSaf is concerned that Icasa may be fatally undermining its own ability to execute its mandate,” Cellsaf said in a statement.
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