Telecommunications, at the best of times, is a complex industry to play in. So what was government thinking when it decided to give a handful of previously disadvantaged small and medium enterprises the opportunity to form their own telecom businesses? Did it really think it was in any position to decide these companies would make it?

While the intent of the under-serviced area licences (USALs) was undoubtedly commendable – broaden access to communications into historically neglected regions through the empowerment of black SMEs – industry largely scoffed at the idea that these companies would survive. And industry was mostly right; it just had the reasons for failure wrong.