Not one of SA's telecoms operators lived up to the Independent Communications Authority of SA's (ICASA's) regulations.
This is according to the long-awaited compliance reports that were finally published yesterday.
The compliance assessments show MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, iBurst, Neotel, Telkom, Sentech and Internet Solutions failed to live up to regulatory requirements for the 2009/10 financial year.
According to the reports, SA's telecoms operators did not completely comply with ICASA's end-user and subscriber service charter regulations, which task operators with providing bi-annual reports showing service availability is at 95% or above, or face fines.
However, several telco insiders, known to ITWeb, have hit back, arguing that the authority moved the goal posts and did not wrap up the submission requirements for the charter before the telcos were required to report. “Companies were left to make their own interpretations,” says a source, who declined to be named for fear of offending the regulator.
ICASA launched the end-user and subscriber service charter in the middle of 2009. The reports, released yesterday, are the first it has published since those regulations came into affect, despite repeated promises that it would make statistics publicly available.
Non-compliant
ICASA found Vodacom did not adequately comply with its end-user regulations, because its information was outdated, and referred to the previous year.
In addition, the information Vodacom submitted did not provide a detailed breakdown of how it was adhering to regulatory requirements, says ICASA. The report indicates Vodacom achieved 99.67% network service availability.
Based on supplementary information provided to ICASA by the operator during May, the regulator found Vodacom complies with the end-user and subscriber service charter, with a network availability of 99.6% and 99.51% service availability.
Vodacom is studying the report, says Richard Boorman, executive head of media relations.
Telkom was found wanting in terms of ICASA's requirement that it provide reasons as to why it cannot install a service within seven days, because it did not report on this aspect.
The fixed-line operator also did not report on ICASA's requirement that the connectivity failure rate not exceed an average of 3% over a six-month period, arguing this only applies to mobile operators. However, ICASA believes the regulation does not only apply to mobile operators and has deemed that Telkom has not complied with this stipulation.
Telkom did not comply with ICASA's requirement that 90% of faults be sorted out within three days, as it only achieved 75.85%. It also did not clear the backlog within the stipulated six days, says ICASA.
The fixed-line operator had several thousand complaints that were not resolved within the stipulated 14 days.
Telkom explained these were due to a variety of reasons, including requiring consumer feedback, technical division feedback and the post office not releasing payments on time, which impacted account payment queries. ICASA's complaints to Telkom have all been resolved within 14 days.
MTN did not fully comply with the end-user and subscriber service charter regulations as its fault-logging report only covered the period between September and February, yet operators are required to provide reports every six months. It has since complied with this requirement.
SA's second-largest network operator achieved average network service availability of more than 99% and its call failure rate is below 1%. MTN has sufficiently complied with the regulations, apart from an outstanding payment to the Universal Services and Access Fund, and issues with the end-user charter.
Robert Madzonga, MTN SA's chief corporate services officer, says the supplementary information provided to ICASA, published as part of the report, shows MTN complies with the regulations.
“It is important to note that MTN had provided evidence of compliance to ICASA even prior to the date of the first ICASA compliance report. MTN will be engaging with ICASA regarding the contents of the compliance report,” notes Madzonga.
Cell C did not provide ICASA with a code of conduct, “despite several reminders”, says ICASA. The operator has since provided ICASA with a copy of its code and is now compliant with this aspect of ICASA's requirements, notes the report.
The operator's network was stable, with an average up time of 99.33% and a dropped call rate of below 1% between January and June last year. The company also had a call setup success rate of 98.38% and a call success rate of 97.53%.
However, ICASA says its report was not structured in a way that addresses each requirement in the regulations. “Cell C has failed to provide the authority with proof of compliance with respect to minimum standards set out in the service charter,” says ICASA's report.
“Cell C has not sufficiently complied” with its regulations around network uptime and availability, says ICASA.
iBurst “sufficiently” complied with the required regulations, apart from an interest and penalty payment due to a late payment relating to the Universal Services and Access Fund, ICASA's Code on People with Disabilities, and certain parts of the end-user and subscriber service charter.
Neotel did not comply with ICASA's requirements that it resolve complaints within the stipulated timeframe.
“We are currently analysing the details of these reports and will be responding to ICASA on the interpretation of the alleged compliance matters,” the fixed-line operator says.
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