As generic legislation, there are some provisions incorporated in the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) that may have unintended consequences for the electronic communications industry.
This is according to an ad hoc industry working group on the CPA, in a submission yesterday to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA). The group was created by the South African Communications Forum.
The submission follows a workshop held on 2 June by ICASA where industry was called to submit views on the CPA and, in particular, on potential areas of exemption.
In its submission, the ad hoc industry working group noted that section 63 of the CPA provides that prepaid vouchers, credit and similar devices should not expire until they are used, or for a period of three years after the date from which it was issued.
It said this is a critical area in which the industry believes the CPA will have unintended consequences and, therefore, urged ICASA to apply for an industry-wide exemption from section 63.
“Currently, any consumer who activates a voucher on their phone links the airtime to their MSISDN [cellphone number]. This means the cellphone companies and other licensees are not able to recycle or churn inactive numbers until all the credit has been used, or for a period of three years from the date of issue.
“The assignment and use of cellphone numbers must be strictly managed in order to avoid a shortfall,” the working group urged.
According to the working group, one of the reasons for ensuring efficient use of numbers is that operators need to recycle numbers that remain inactive for a particular period of time, usually a minimum of three months and maximum of six months.
The group also noted that this practice ensures inactive numbers are churned to be re-used.
“To use numbers more efficiently, the industry changed all their systems to introduce dynamic numbering or numberless SIMs at great expense. The industry has put measures in place to warn consumers about their airtime window periods and the fact that they may lose unused airtime at the expiry date.
“Should the industry now be required to keep all numbers active on their networks for as long as three years even though it might have been inactive throughout that time period, then numbers might soon run out,” it said.
Broadcasting exemptions
In its submission, the ad hoc working group also pointed out that on-air promotional competitions account for a considerable portion of the revenue stream for broadcasting service licensees and especially for community-based broadcasting licensees.
It then called for a specific exemption for the broadcasting industry from section 36 and the related regulations for on-air competitions, as it is expected to stifle the economic growth of the broadcasting industry.
“Broadcasters often use promotional competitions in conjunction with other activities such as fund-raising for charitable causes. To this end, the case is made that consumers have the right to be notified of the cost prior to the competition, but that the rate set in the regulations of R1.50 should not apply.”
Other issues touched in the submission relate to the postal industry, labelling of type-approved products, concurrent jurisdiction, and the retrospective application of legislation.
Share