Cellphone-jammers pin hopes on spooks

Johannesburg, 05 Dec 2002

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has decided to keep cellphone jamming devices illegal, but has granted a three-month grace period for their removal.

The regulator called on "members of the public who may have been led to believe that cellular jammers are licensed and type-approved by ICASA" to remove the offending equipment and return it to the vendor.

Actively jamming cellular signals is illegal under the Telecommunications Act and could carry a R500 000 fine, two years in prison or both. However, according to the vendors, jammers are in wide use throughout the country with prisons and universities among their biggest customers.

In September, ICASA held public hearings on the issue of jamming. In its findings, it says the drawbacks of allowing jamming far outweigh the benefits.

Those in favour of jamming had argued that ringing cellphones in churches and cinemas constitute an invasion of privacy, but ICASA found that it is more important to not block access to emergency numbers such as 112 and punish only those who use their cellphones irresponsibly.

Mobile operators MTN and Vodacom have argued heavily against allowing jamming, saying that blocking their signals was not only illegal but caused a degradation of service for users far outside the target area.

Instead of jamming, ICASA proposed education.

"ICASA notes the concern around the use of cellphones in public places and encourages the mobile cellular industry to embark on programmes to promote responsible mobile phone use by consumers."

However, the continuing ban has left jammer vendors with some hope. Law enforcement agencies made a presentation to ICASA behind closed doors and the ICASA finding refers to "alternative legislation" which will support security agencies to fight crime.

Some believe this refers to the Electronic Communications Security Bill currently before Parliament, which is due to establish a company named Comsec at a cost of more than R200 million.

Comsec is to secure the communications of all organs of state and in the current version of the bill is exempt from the licensing regime of the Telecommunications Act. If the law is passed, it will allow Comsec to conduct jamming on behalf of the likes of the National Intelligence Agency and prisons that currently use their own jammers.