South Africa abandons plans for communications super-regulator

The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) has abandoned the planned integration of the .ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA), Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), and Film and Publications Board (FPB).

Various plans to integrate communications industry regulators have been started and ditched over the years. ZADNA disclosed the latest abandonment in its annual performance plan for the 2024/25 financial year.

“This strategic re-alignment has since been abandoned, and ZADNA has been requested to pursue a DNS regulator of the future,” it said.

“A position paper articulating this was submitted to DCDT after the endorsement by the board.”

The merging of the three organisations would have ostensibly seen the following regulatory functions falling under one entity:

• Icasa’s regulation of the South African communications, broadcasting, and postal services sectors;
• The FPB’s regulation of films, games, and certain publications through classification; and,
• ZADNA’s management and regulation of the .za namespace.

South Africa’s communications department — then known as the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services — announced a similar plan in October 2017.

However, the initial plan was to merge the department, ZADNA, Icasa, and the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA).

Then-minister Siyabonga Cwele explained that the spread of regulation across the four entities resulted in overlapping and duplicating roles and a lack of coordination between entities.

The department presented a new bill for the creation of a “super-regulator” to regulate the ICT sector. This included:

• Regulating the electronic communications sector;
• Internet governance;
• Licensing and regulation of electronic communications networks and services;
• Licensing and regulation of spectrum and other scarce resources;
• Licensing and regulation of postal services;
• Ex-ante competition regulation;
• Protection of consumers;
• Allocation and management of domain names; and,
• Establishment and operation of a tribunal to deal with appeals.

The department said the merger would result in USAASA being dissolved and transformed into a standalone funding agency to support universal service and access.

The department relaunched the plan just over two years later when then-communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams announced plans to merge ZADNA, Icasa, and the FPB.

During her announcement, Ndabeni-Abrahams said her department was developing a model for “smart regulation” in South Africa, which will see the three regulatory bodies integrated.

The minister said the DCDT would explore new funding mechanisms for the all-in-one regulator.

The DCDT affirmed the plan in a December 2020 announcement, saying it had embarked on a process to merge the entities in accordance with the state-owned enterprises rationalisation plan.

“Domain name authority ZADNA, the Film and Publications Board, and Icasa will merge to form one regulator,” the DCDT said.

“The Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa will be repurposed to establish a state-owned digital fund company.”

The Internet Service Provider Association of South Africa (ISPA) raised concerns over the integration in January 2021.

“ISPA believes there are good reasons to align regulatory functions in the ICT sector,” it stated.

“Great care will need to be taken to ensure that this does not cause disruption at a time when there is massive growth in the industry and in demand for infrastructure and services provided by it,” ISPA said.