Government and local telecommunications operators have agreed to work together to reduce the cost of telecoms.
The agreement follows the second colloquium on telecommunications prices staged in Johannesburg two weeks ago. At the colloquium, deputy minister of communications, Roy Padayachie, promised stakeholders that government would host round table meetings with both the regulator and operators.
A round table meeting was held with local telecoms operators yesterday and the parties agreed to collaborate on strengthening the existing initiatives on telecoms prices and policies by "developing a more coherent telecommunications policy framework".
The meeting expressed its support for the national objective of achieving an accelerated and shared economic growth rate of at least 6% GDP.
The meeting was attended by Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom, the second national operator, Kingdom Communications, Amatole Telecommunications, Thinta Thinta Telecommunications, Bokone Telecoms and B-Tel.
In a statement issued by the Department of Communications today, Padayachie said: "The meeting was extremely productive and augurs well for the telecoms sector.
"It was indeed very encouraging to note the very positive sentiments expressed at the meeting by the CEOs of the major operators and the other representatives present to work in partnership with government and all other stakeholders to achieve a higher growth rate and to effectively stimulate greater competition in the telecoms sector by addressing the concerns on the costs of telecommunication services and service delivery in SA."
The participants also agreed that the policy framework must strengthen the underserviced area licensee programme. A recommendation was made that the Ministry of Communications consider convening a task team consisting of representatives of the industry, the Independent Communications Authority of SA, the Universal Services Agency and government to put together a plan for managing this process going forward.
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