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ICASA delays operator meeting

Candice Jones
By Candice Jones, ITWeb online telecoms editor
Johannesburg, 09 Oct 2009

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) will only meet with the mobile operators on Monday.

The operators were expected to have presented reports to the regulator today on their progress in lowering the interconnect rates. However, ICASA spokesman Josias Mathibe says, while the meeting was supposed to happen today, it will only take place on Monday.

“We will provide information on the progress of the operators on Monday after the meeting,” he says.

The meetings are part of the promised process of lowering the mobile operators' interconnect fees.

High interconnect rates have been lambasted by many of the alternative telcos, which say the smaller players are kept from competing effectively in the market at the current cost. The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications and Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille have put pressure on ICASA to act.

Before the ruckus in September, the regulator called the operators into closed meetings to discuss ways of dropping telecoms costs in the country. The operators then agreed to a process of renegotiating interconnect contracts; however, the regulator didn't stipulate how much the operators need to cut the rates.

The only indication that any movement would happen was that the operators agreed to have lower interconnect agreements by February 2010. However, many industry watchers were sceptical that any action would happen and that the operators would battle their way out with the threat of legal action.

The portfolio committee was not impressed with ICASA's handling of the rate cut, and clamped down on the operators. The committee has subsequently called on public comments on its suggested rate of 60c per minute during peak times as of 1 November.

It has also called on interconnection rates to be further reduced by 15c annually on 1 November for each successive year until 2012. The committee says these reductions must be passed directly onto the consumer.

The operators have since said little on the interconnect issue, insisting that a drastic cut could destabilise the market and prevent the operators from investing in network infrastructure and upgrades.

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