MINISTRY OF WORKS, TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION
8.2 INTERVENTION BY GOVERNMENT TO SUPPLEMENT
THE MARKET FORCES.
Justification. The market forces alone will not satisfy Government's
social development ambitions and they will not achieve all the goals for
the telecommunications industry.
Implications. Liberalisation of the market and introduction of
competition will lead to uneven supply of telecommunications services
among different regions of the country. In order to spread the benefits of
communication widely and reduce the number of individuals excluded
from at least minimum access because of low incomes or that they
happen to live in areas which from telecommunications point of view are
regarded as commercially non-viable, the state has to intervene.
License conditions imposed on operators and service providers may to
some extent rectify the imbalances, but given the scope of investments
needed to achieve universal services, Government needs to finance
desirable but commercially nonviable investments. This should be done
through existing procedures and controls.
8.3 A CONTROLLED LIBERALISATION OF THE INDUSTRY
TAKES PLACE ALONG THE FOLLOWING LINES:
8.3.1 Liberalisation of the sales of terminal equipment means, that
anyone can sell such equipment without a specific license from the
Regulatory Authority. However, this does not dispense from the
requirement to have a business licence and other licences for operating a
business. Furthermore, the equipment sold will have to correspond to type
approvals made and standards laid down by the Regulatory Authority, as
a person selling such equipment will be responsible under the proposed
new Telecommunications Act for the safety of the equipment put on the
market. This requirement is also intended to ensure compatibility of
equipment.
8.3.2 In respect to storage and forwarding of facsimile services, it is
intended that this will only require an ordinary business licence. The
service provider is in effect only an ordinary telecommunications
customer.
8.3.3 In order to put up a public telephone, no specific
telecommunications licence should be required. However, the proposed
Telecommunications Act applies in respect of type approvals and
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY FOR BOTSWANA