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ICASA hosts Southern African roaming task team

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 03 Sept 2015
ICASA will this week host a Roaming Task Team meeting for Southern African communication regulators.
ICASA will this week host a Roaming Task Team meeting for Southern African communication regulators.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is this week hosting the Communication Regulators Association of Southern Africa's (CRASA's) Roaming Task Team (CRTT) and Roaming Forum in Johannesburg.

The CRTT meeting's aim is to finalise the calculations on the retail and wholesale roaming price ceilings in the region.

CRASA says SADC is facing unaffordable international mobile roaming tariffs.

"With recognition that it is a challenge for an originating country to regulate the roaming tariff of a visited country, SADC decided to intervene at the regional level and seeks to regulate the roaming services. This would allow for better consumer welfare, as well as accelerate regional integration, thereby facilitating the social and economic development of the region," says CRASA.

ICASA says the meeting, which is only open to regulators in the SADC region, will also cover a baseline report that is aimed at providing reference for the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the glide paths in the region.

"The revised effective implementation date for the glide path is 1 October 2015, as directed by the SADC honourable ministers of communications, ICT and postal," according to an ICASA statement.

The meeting is open to all mobile network operators (MNOs) that offer roaming services, and takes place tomorrow.

"The Roaming Forum is convened to engage and inform the MNOs of the effective date for implementation of the glide paths, and to seek solutions to any foreseen constraints or challenges to successful implementation of the glide paths," says ICASA.

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