The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) says it does not have enough funding to support Parliament in all of its objectives.
The authority yesterday presented to Parliament on the cost of communications and pointed out that it only has about R20 million to do all of its work, while one market review costs around R5 million.
Although ICASA is reprioritising its activities, it does not have enough funding to support Parliament "in all of its objectives," its presentation notes. Under the law, ICASA has the power to regulate in instances where a licensee has dominance and the market is not competitive.
Government aims to achieve universal broadband by 2020, but SA's communications costs have repeatedly been criticised as being too high.
The authority says several issues could have an impact on the cost of communicating, such as a lack of spectrum, the exchange rate and barriers to network deployment. ICASA would like to regulate where necessary and identify the need for intervention.
ICASA would also like to make high-demand spectrum available as soon as possible, which would increase Internet access and competition.
ICASA says in its presentation that both consumers and mobile operators have benefited from lower interconnect. It says cellular companies have seen an increase in termination minutes and revenue, while consumers have benefited from a reduction in the effective tariff per minute.
In 2010, ICASA decreed that cellular interconnect costs had to drop to 73c at peak and 65c during off-peak times, from March 2011. This year, rates dropped to 56c and 52c, respectively. By March 2013, wholesale mobile terminations rates will drop to 40c, regardless of the time the call is made.
ICASA previously said the cost of making a prepaid cellular call in SA dropped 24% in two years, thanks to interconnect reductions. However, the authority is concerned that international voice tariffs are lower than what it costs to make a local call.
The authority points out that the number of households with fixed lines continues to decrease, while access to the Internet is growing because of mobile. It says private sector mobile operators have made significant progress in achieving universal service obligations.
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