Telecommunication authorities can regulate high data costs in order to ensure universal access.
This is according to Pakamile Pongwana, CEO of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).
Pongwana made the comments during a leaders' dialogue at the 2016 World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS) in Gaborone, Botswana.
The WTIS is an annual event organised by the International Telecommunication Union to discuss international ICT measurement, enabling a unique opportunity to join the leadership dialogue.
Sometimes the tendency is to think about regulation as a means of control, and regulators themselves look at regulation as a control measure; even policy-makers want to use regulation for control purposes, said Pongwana.
"The regulator essentially must be an enabler. We should use regulation to enable the economy. Enable e-government, enable access to data and enable people utilising devices. Of course, you can regulate things like high data prices."
Although Pongwana noted regulators can help bring the cost of data down, he doesn't know how data prices would be regulated as "the pricing model is just messy".
He said: "That has got to be dealt with because the pricing model of data is well over, and that is problematic."
Meanwhile, in the wake of the #DataMustFall campaign, the South African regulator issued a statement noting that "reducing high cost of communication remains ICASA's most important mandate".
South Africans have taken to social media to express their frustration over the high cost of communication in the country. Led by media and radio personality Thabo "Tbo Touch" Molefe, the campaign called on operators to lower the cost of mobile data.
"Even though the authority is yet to develop a specific framework to regulate data pricing, it does, however, aim to protect consumers by setting regulations which licensees must comply with.
"It should be noted that any regulatory intervention by the authority in any market (including data markets) must follow the prescripts of the law. In this regard, the authority's analysis of priority markets which require regulatory intervention is under way. The authority hopes to announce the proposed steps it will embark upon in respect of the priority markets by the end of the current financial year," said the ICASA statement.
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