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Operators 'surprised' at compliance notice

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 25 Aug 2011

Two of SA's largest cellular providers have voiced their surprise at having received compliance notices from the National Consumer Commission (NCC) to amend their terms and conditions.

According to reports, the NCC yesterday issued cellular operators with notices to change their terms and conditions to comply with the new National Consumer Protection Act (CPA).

However, Vodacom says it is already in the process of changing its terms and conditions, and had already agreed to change its contracts by the end of October, while Cell C says it will oppose the notice.

Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala was not immediately available to comment on the operators' statements.

Graham Mackinnon, Cell C's group general counsel, says: “We don't believe there is any merit in the compliance notice and will oppose it. Cell C's subscriber agreement is compliant with the Consumer Protection Act.”

Cell C previously said it had agreed to make a few minor changes to its already CPA-complaint subscriber agreement. The amended subscriber agreement will be available in its stores from early next month.

Vodacom's chief corporate affairs officer, Portia Maurice, says: “We were surprised to receive a compliance notice from the National Consumer Commission as we already had an amendment process under way, and had agreed with them an implementation date of 31 October.”

The operator, SA's largest, says it has been co-operating fully with the NCC around updating its contracts to comply with regulations, which were published at the same time the new Act came into effect.

“The regulations published in April varied considerably from the draft regulations previously discussed, which necessitated dialogue with the NCC,” says Vodacom.

Maurice adds: “Given that discussions are already under way and that an implementation date has been publicly acknowledged, Vodacom regards the compliance notice as completely unwarranted. The matter will be addressed directly with the NCC.”

It is understood that MTN was also issued with a compliance notice, but the company did not issue a statement on the matter.

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