SA's second national operator Neotel has paid all outstanding amounts on its licence fee to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).
Neotel was initially meant to pay a R100 million once-off licence fee to ICASA over the period of a decade. However, the fixed fee was scrapped in 2009, leading to confusion as to how much Neotel owed the regulator.
Last October, the parties reached an out-of-court settlement, and Neotel agreed to pay R30 million, which was due at the end of April. However, Neotel missed this deadline, according to a compliance report on the operator, which ICASA published in August.
The report indicates that ICASA's licensing and compliance division recommended the authority apply for a “writ of execution”. However, the parties subsequently agreed to a payment plan that saw Neotel pay R20 million in tranches, with the balance due last month.
ICASA spokesman Paseka Maleka said yesterday that Neotel paid the outstanding R10 million at the end of September.
Regulatory changes
mobile network operators were meant to pay over the period of a decade.
There was also a yearly fee due by operators, which was previously a percentage of operating income.
In 2009, new regulations were promulgated which abolished the once-off fee and amended the yearly fee to 1.5% of gross profit. Telcos that entered the market after the regulations were changed did not have to pay the once-off fee.
Neotel had argued that the new regulations created confusion. Although it believed it needed to pay for the period between 2005 and 2009, it did not know how to work out this amount.
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