Despite the reconfiguration of SA's ICT ministry and lingering uncertainty around the role of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) in the new regime, the regulator says its six-month termination rates review - now three months in - is on track.
This comes after a South Gauteng High Court judge ruled at the end of March that the authority's new termination regulations - which significantly benefit smaller mobile players - are unlawful. ICASA was given six months to carry out a costing study, revise the regulations, produce a new proposal, and get operators' buy-in.
Industry observers have expressed concerns around the authority's ability to complete the process by the end-of-September deadline, saying failure to do so would result in an unregulated industry. They have also called for clarity on ICASA's role under the new Department of Communications, which has been referred to as a "department of propaganda".
Full swing
ICASA has declined to comment on the new developments in Cabinet, but says in terms of its deliverables, "nothing has changed at ICASA and all projects for this financial year are on-going and in full swing".
Yesterday, ICASA spokesperson Paseka Maleka said - in terms of the termination rate review - the process was on track and the authority "expects [new regulations] to be published by the end of September".
"The authority extended the deadline for responses following the publication of the questionnaire to the industry seeking cost-related information to be used as an input to the development of a cost model suitable for the South African environment.
"The deadline was extended from 20 to 23 June in response to representations from stakeholders who were participating in the completion of the questionnaire and ICASA is currently in the process of analysing the data which we received."
MTR brawl
Termination rates are the fees operators pay each other to carry calls on their networks. According to the new mobile termination rate (MTR) structure - which is and will remain in place until the review process has taken its course - MTRs for Vodacom and MTN are 20c, while Cell C and Telkom Mobile can charge the two larger players more than double that (44c) to terminate calls on their network.
The publication of the proposed MTR regime, which also includes a three-year glide path that would have seen Vodacom and MTN paying their smaller rivals four times the amount they would receive in return (10c) from March 2016, set off one of the biggest tussles the mobile industry has seen.
Relations between Cell C and MTN in particular were strained - a scenario that played out in the local media.
Asymmetry for next year and 2016 will remain under review, until a fresh set of regulations is announced in October.
Share