The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) is making inroads into reviewing mobile termination rates in a bid to put new tariffs into place by October.
This comes after a South Gauteng High Court ruling at the end of March deeming ICASA's new mobile termination rate structure "unlawful and invalid", although it suspended the order of invalidity for a period of six months.
However, the six-month time frame at ICASA's disposal raised concerns over whether it would complete the multi-step process in time. Industry commentators said a failure to do so would return the industry to the pre-2010 world it once knew, where operators had carte blanche to charge each other as much as they elected to.
The ruling followed MTN and Vodacom's legal bid to have the new rates operators pay each other quashed on the basis that ICASA did not carry out the necessary processes before publishing regulations. The mobile termination rates (MTRs) that were mooted favour smaller players Cell C and Telkom Mobile.
As a result of the ruling, ICASA could implement a lower rate for the mobile duopoly, until October. MTRs for Vodacom and MTN dropped to 20c - half the previous rate - while Cell C and Telkom Mobile charge the two larger players more than double that (44c) to terminate calls on their network.
Questionnaire
Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said on the back of its annual results on Monday that the sector expects clarity on the new rates in a few weeks and has been told ICASA has hired a consultant to assist with the process. He also cautioned that Vodacom's intended capital spend of R9 billion this year, as well as top line growth expectations, could change depending on the new rates.
Communications minister Yunus Carrim said about a month ago that the department is "reasonably satisfied" with ICASA's review progress. He said the regulator requested more resources from the department, which "agreed in principle to give [ICASA] the appropriate support".
ICASA has now indicated it is moving along with the process of reviewing termination rates, although its latest move affects fixed and mobile communications. It has notified the industry that it is issuing questionnaires to every licensee to obtain information to feed into its wholesale voice call termination markets review.
Responses to the questionnaires, in Excel format only, must be returned to the authority by 13 June. ICASA says this process is in line with the 2010 Call Termination Regulations, which say rates must be reviewed every three years. The review is to determine the "effectiveness of competition and the application of pro-competitive measures".
A clarification workshop will be held tomorrow.
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