Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology By Vodacom (Pty) Ltd 1 August 2007

Introduction  Vodacom thanks the Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology for the opportunity to make oral presentations on the Bill  Vodacom welcomes and supports the noble objectives of the Bill, including the development of skills, capabilities and expertise of those engaged in Radio Astronomy in Southern Africa.

Agenda  Introductory remarks  Consultation with stakeholders  SKA Preliminary Design  Mitigation Techniques  Consultation with communities  Potential Impacts on Vodacom  Comments/Recommendations on provisions in the Bill  Closure

Consultation with stakeholders  Although the Memorandum on the Objects of the Bill does not mention the Mobile Operators (“MOs”), consultations with the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) team are taking place.  The SKA team and the MOs have discussed technical issues on protecting the core and central Astronomy Advantage Areas (AAA)

SKA Preliminary Design  The core AAA is deemed to be 5-10 km in diameter and contains 50% of the collection area.  The central AAA is a buffer zone around the core, with more relaxed thresholds Mitigating strategies focus on maintaining partial operation of RF devices with no or limited operation in the direction of the SKA core. Mitigating strategies focus on maintaining partial operation of RF devices with no or limited operation in the direction of the SKA core.

Map provided by SKA Team

Mitigation Techniques  SKA will operate from 100 MHz to 25 GHz and the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) from 700 MHz to 1750 MHz  SKA and cellular frequencies overlap  Vodacom will attempt to provide as much protection as possible to the core and central buffer zones in the direction of the core zone  At sites outside this area, current proposed threshold levels will be impractical to attain, especially in respect of the SKA remote stations.  There is no consensus on the actual threshold levels to adhere to in the non-astronomy bands

65 km Current Vodacom Site 1

65 km Site 1 with Mitigation Techniques

68 km Current Vodacom Site 2

68 km Site 2 with Mitigation Techniques

Consultation with communities  We are not aware of consultations on the impact on affected parties such as communities, industry, farming and underserved areas.  The Minister should investigate impacts on, and sacrifices by, communities resident in Astronomy Advantage Areas (AAA) should restrictions be placed on mobile cellular services.  Alternative communications methods should be provided where mobile cellular service is restricted.

Potential Impacts on Vodacom  Vodacom has major communications infrastructure investments in SA to bring communication services to the public and to bridge the digital divide.  Where the network infrastructure within the AAAs causes interference to radio astronomy activities, the infrastructure may have to be dismantled, which would result in heavy losses.  The MOs have national roll out, Universal Service and Community Service Obligations, apart from commercial and spectrum interests, and may be negatively affected by some provisions in the Bill.  Vodacom welcomes the provision in the Bill which provides for compensation to be paid

Comments/Recommendations on provisions in the Bill

Register of Interested and Affected Parties  Section 7(3)(a) provides that a declaration under subsection (1)(a) may be issued only if the Minister has beforehand conducted a section 42 public participation process and has compiled a permanent register of interested and affected parties for the core AAA.  Vodacom is a licensed mobile cellular operator providing communications on a national basis and should be registered as an interested and affected party on the Minister’s permanent register of interested and affected parties.  This comment also applies to the provisions of section 9(3)(a) and mention of register in sections 11, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27 and 25.

Withdrawal of declaration or exclusion of part of Core, Central, or Coordinated AAAs  Sections 8, 10 and 12 provide that the Minister may withdraw the declaration of an area as a core/central/coordinated astronomy advantage area or as part of such existing astronomy advantage area; or exclude any part of an existing astronomy advantage area from such area.  The Bill should specify under which conditions such withdrawal of the declarations may be made.

Restrictions within core and central astronomy advantage areas  Section 20(1)(c) provides to the effect that no person may, without the written permission of the management authority, have in their possession within a core astronomy advantage area any radio interference source, unless the source is turned off and is incapable of causing any form of radio frequency interference;  These provisions imply restrictions on general access to the core/central areas.  Vodacom submits that its personnel might need access to these areas where co-ordination areas have been agreed between parties.

Declared activities in core or central astronomy advantage area  Section 23(3) provides that the Minister may – a) in relation to activities contemplated in subsections (1) and (2), require that any activity cease subject to payment of compensation, if required by section 25 of the Constitution; or a) in relation to activities contemplated in subsections (1) and (2), require that any activity cease subject to payment of compensation, if required by section 25 of the Constitution; or (b) prescribe conditions under which any activity may continue in order to reduce or eliminate the impact of the activity on astronomy advantage in the relevant area. (b) prescribe conditions under which any activity may continue in order to reduce or eliminate the impact of the activity on astronomy advantage in the relevant area.  Vodacom submits that this provision may be used to request compensation in the case where current Vodacom base stations are prohibited to operate.  Customers in these areas (business, farming, communities etc) may require dedicated low power highly directional point to point links or fixed line operations to continue services.

Authorization to undertake identified activities  Section 25(6)(a)(ii) provides that the competent authority must specify the information to be provided in a report required in terms of subsection (4)(a), provided that such report must include alternatives to an identified activity if it is likely to cause RF interference…;  If Vodacom needs to adhere to Radio Astronomy threshold levels in spectrum bands allocated to Mobile or Fixed services, the impact on customers in the core/central zones will be major.  Alternatives to the identified activities will have to take into consideration service, quality, coverage, cost, financial and social implications on the affected parties.

Consultation between the Minister and the minister of communications  Whereas Section 22 of the Bill provides for consultation between the Minister and the minister of communications. Section 37(1) provides that the Minister may prescribe regulations impacting on the RF spectrum, but does not mention consulting with the minister of communications and ICASA.  The current mechanism provided for in the Electronic Communications Act for managing the spectrum resource is adequate to ensure proper coordination.  Consultation between the Minister and the “minister of communications”, combined with policy by the latter and policy directions to ICASA should avoid un-coordinated impacts on the RF spectrum.  Vodacom recommends that the Minister of Communications retains total responsibility for the RF spectrum and that protection of astronomy advantage be facilitated by consultation between the Minister and the Minister of Communications.

Regulation by the Minister  Section 50(c)(v) provides for the Minister to make regulations on “the use of the frequency spectrum in astronomy advantage areas”;  Section 50(d)(ii) provides for the prohibition or restriction of “the use of any interference source, mobile and portable radio frequency interference source or … equipment … which may cause …, radio frequency interference … within … an astronomy advantage area;  Regulations pertaining to the use of sources interfering with the RF spectrum should be dealt with in terms of existing legislative instruments i.e. ECA – refer to the previous slide.

CONCLUSION  Vodacom thanks the Portfolio Committee for the opportunity to give this presentation  We welcome any questions