Technology and regulatory changes have profoundly altered and will continue to alter theway business opportunities are conceived. Entrepreneurs evaluate these opportunities andinitiate the start-up of businesses.This study assesses whether the two major factors essential to the entry of smallertelecommunications start-ups, liberalisation and technology changes, result inentrepreneurship opportunities.The South African telecommunications industry is entering its eleventh year of liberalisationand coupled with technological development and convergence in the telecommunicationsand information and technology sector, the market is set for growth. Technology trendssuch as wireless, broadband, and the convergence of voice, video and data are bringingdramatic change to the industry and a myriad of business opportunities.The growing number of competitors found amongst Value Added Network ServiceProviders (VANS), lnternet Service Providers (ISP's), Voice over Internet Protocoloperators, Least Cost Routing operators and Wireless operators are clear signs that thetelecommunications industry's competitive space is changing.Information regarding entrepreneurship, technology and regulations served as input tocompile four sets of questionnaires to conduct the empirical research. The populationsample consisted of South African telecommunications industry stakeholders with a focuson new start-ups in the form of VANS, ISP's, USAL's and Wireless Access ServiceProviders.Data were analysed in respect of the following sections:-Profile information such as licensing category and size of turnover.-Entrepreneurship.-The impact of regulations on entrepreneurship.-The impact of technology on entrepreneurship.The collected data verified the existence and presence of smaller telecommunicationsplayers in South Africa. The existence of entrepreneurship opportunities in the SouthAfrican telecommunications industry is created by entrepreneurial drive, innovation andtechnology changes.The respondents believe that there are entrepreneur opportunities in thetelecommunications industry but the current liberalisation measures are not sufficient topromote entrepreneurship in the telecommunications industry.The respondents confirmed that technology is a much stronger opportunity creator thanregulations and that IP communications, wireless and broadband technologies will createmost entrepreneurial opportunities. Liberalisation of service-based competition and theunbundling of access networks will also create significant business opportunities.Regulations are not in line with technological progress and prevent South Africa frombecoming a true information-centric society. Although sufficient consumer demand existsfor services, regulations act as a barrier to enter the market. The draft Convergence Act isnot addressing concerns about free and fair competition.A model of telecommunications regulation focusing on competition as a fundamental toolfor achieving both economic and social objectives is recommended for implementation.New smaller competitors should be subjected to competition laws as opposed to regulator specificrules. The aforementioned will result in entrepreneurship together with theachievement of free market goals such as fair competition, reduced cost of communicationand a thriving e-economy.The licensing framework should allow broad-based competitive entry in "fringe" or valueadded services. The regulator must become independent of other interests in thetelecommunications sector and independent of political interest. The changing landscapeof local interconnection with multiple operators providing different combinations of thesame integrated services must be revisited.Regulations should be brought in line with technological progress. The importance ofadvanced technology in the new e-economy is unmistakable, and technology should beapplied in an entrepreneurial context. The South African government should seizetechnological opportunities in the changing telecommunications industry.This however, requires entrepreneurship, good management, and frontier technicalknowledge, a detailed understanding of consumer demand, wise public policy direction andeffective regulation.
