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 21 TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY FOR BOTSWANA