7 Regulatory environment An enabling environment needs to be created for effective and efficient service provisioning. Regulation shall ensure that the telecommunications requirements of the rural population are met through specific market interventions. In particular, the licensing of telecommunications service providers including provisions and obligations shall guide the process of service provision. The provision of service in the rural area shall be in line with the liberalisation of the telecommunications industry. 7.1 Licensing Framework In Botswana, telecommunication licenses are currently issued in terms of service. Historically this has been distinguishable and easily separated as data and voice (broken down into mobile, international, and fixed). The provision of telecommunications services to the rural areas shall be provided by licensed operators under a new and special license category to be known as “Underserved Area Licence”. The identified technology solution providing the most economical and cost effective solution from a financial and implementation point of view shall be implemented. It is therefore recommended that a service neutral licence shall be issued for rural areas. This will prevent the situation whereby costly deployment solutions are being forced due to licence conditions. To ensure efficiency, both economically and socially, the localities shall be grouped together into Underserved Areas for the purpose of awarding the licences. The process leading to the award of the licence shall be as objective as possible. An open tender process shall be used to select the best service provider to provide service for each rural license area. The successful bidder shall be awarded an Underserved Area Licence by the regulator. The new category of licence shall be aligned to the proposed further liberalization timelines. The modalities of the license shall be discussed between the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology (MCST) and the regulator. The format of the licences thus issued will, in addition to the standard terms and conditions also include an annex which will comprise a mandatory rollout plan stipulating the localities to be provided with telecommunication services and the specified timeframes by which the services shall be provided. In addition, the service providers shall be mandated to provide consumers with access to a directory information service and emergency services such as the police, ambulance, fire departments, etc. Rural Telecommunications Strategy 26 October 2006 18