The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) will review per-minute cellphone charges, and possibly call for a reviewed billing structure.
Speaking at the Mobility 2006 conference in Johannesburg today, ICASA chairman Paris Mashile said per-minute charges were unfair, as the user does not necessarily use the full minute during a call.
Operators should be charging on a per-second basis, and ICASA will emphasise the matter when dealing with mobile providers, he said.
Mashile also spoke out on the issue of dropped calls, for which, a Johannesburg High Court ruled recently, cellphone providers are within their rights to charge.
The case was brought to the Johannesburg High Court by Jason Blackwood, founder of Cell Check, who argued that Vodacom should reimburse Hilti International R18 300 in dropped call charges.
Mashile said charges should only be levied on successful calls and not include dropped calls.
"Some of the millions that operators make could largely be from dropped calls," he said.
Consumer rights
Mashile outlined the role ICASA plays in safe-guarding consumer rights, saying ICASA must be unhesitating in challenging unacceptable conduct on the part of market participants.
"I`m not a fairy godmother for the operators; I`m a watchdog for the consumer," Mashile stated.
In his presentation, Virgin Mobile CEO Sajeed Sacranie said local consumers are being "monumentally ripped-off". There are more than 80 packages and a fog of tariffs for consumers to navigate, causing confusion when customers want to make buying decisions, he said.
Sacranie noted per-minute rates, the bundling of the handset and cellphone usage costs, as well as the lack of transparency in packages, as ways operators were swindling customers. He also accused ICASA of conceding to the mobile operators and urged consumers to speak out.
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