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No. 28743

Act No. 36, 2005

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 18 APRIL 2006
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS ACT, 2005

(whether economically, environmentally or technically) be substituted or duplicated in order to provide a service in terms of this Act;
‘‘existing licences’’ means the licences granted to persons prior to the coming into
force of this Act in accordance with the provisions of the Telecommunications Act,
the IBA Act or the Broadcasting Act;
‘‘financial interest’’ means an interest that may not have voting rights attached to
it but which gives the person or entity an equity or debt interest directly through
shares or other securities or indirectly through an agreement giving it—
(a) the power to control the licensee; or
(b) an effective say over the affairs of the licensee;
‘‘free-to-air service’’ means a service which is broadcast and capable of being
received without payment of subscription fees;
‘‘harmful interference’’ means interference which—
(a) seriously degrades, obstructs, or repeatedly interrupts an electronic communication or broadcasting service operating in accordance with ITU Radio
Regulations; or
(b) is not within CISPR interference level limits as agreed to or adopted by the
Republic;
‘‘IBA Act’’ means the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act, 1993 (Act No. 153
of 1993);
‘‘ICASA Act’’ means the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
Act, 2000 (Act No. 13 of 2000);
‘‘ICT Charter’’ means the Black Economic Empowerment Charter for the ICT
sector;
‘‘individual licence’’ means a licence that is granted by the Authority to a person
in terms of section 5(2);
‘‘interconnection’’ means the physical or logical linking of two or more electronic
communications networks, electronic communications services, broadcasting
services, services provided pursuant to a licence exemption or any combination
thereof;
‘‘interference’’ means the effect of unwanted energy due to one or a combination
of emissions, radiations, or inductions upon reception in a radio communication
system, manifested by any—
(a) performance degradation;
(b) misinterpretation; or
(c) loss of information,
which could be extracted in the absence of such unwanted energy;
‘‘ICT’’ means information, communications and technology;
‘‘ITU’’ means International Telecommunications Union;
‘‘licensee’’ means a person issued with a licence to provide services in terms of
Chapter 3 of this Act;
‘‘licence exemption’’ means an exemption granted by the Authority in terms of
section 6 of this Act;
‘‘licence area’’ means the geographical area specified in a licence;
‘‘market power’’ has the same meaning as that term is defined in the Competition
Act;
‘‘Minister’’ means the Minister responsible for Communications;
‘‘multi-channel distribution service’’ means a broadcasting signal distribution
service that provides broadcasting signal distribution for more than one channel at
the same time on the same signal, and ‘‘multi-channel distributor’’ is construed
accordingly;
‘‘number portability’’ means the ability of subscribers to an electronic communications service or persons providing a service pursuant to a licence exemption, to
retain their existing numbers without impairment of quality, reliability, or
convenience when switching from one electronic communications service licensee
to another electronic communications service licensee;
‘‘party election broadcast’’ means a direct address or message broadcast free of
charge on a broadcasting service and which is intended or calculated to advance the
interests of any particular political party;
‘‘person’’ means a natural or a juristic person;
‘‘political advertisement’’ means an advertisement broadcast on a broadcasting
service which is intended or calculated to advance the interests of any particular
political party, for which advertisement the relevant broadcasting service licensee

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