The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) announced it has completed the process to review the 2014 call termination regulations and will publish the final regulations in the government gazette on 28 September 2018.
In a statement, ICASA says the regulations are part of the broader measures to reduce the cost to communicate and will be applicable from 1 October, it states.
For operators with more than a 20% share of total minutes terminated in the wholesale voice market, the final regulations propose a glide path period where the charge for terminating a call at a fixed location will be 9c from October 2018 to September 2019; 7c for the period October 2019 to September 2020; and 6c from October 2020 onwards.
Furthermore, terminating a call at a mobile location the charge will be 12c from October 2018 to September 2019; 10c for the period October 2019 to September 2020; and 9c from October 2020 onwards.
As for those operators with 20% or less share of total minutes terminated in the wholesale voice market, the termination rate of a call at a fixed location will be 10c from October 2018 to September 2019; 8c for the period October 2019 to September 2020; 6c from October 2020 onwards. Terminating a call at a mobile location will be 18c from October 2018 to September 2019; 16c for the period October 2019 to September 2020; and 13c from October 2020 onwards, says ICASA.
"The cost models formed part of the Authority's multi-input process that helped inform the Authority on the appropriate level of wholesale call termination rates operators should be able to charge. We do hope that the call termination regulations will enhance an effectively competitive ICT environment," says ICASA's councillor Paris Mashile.
The authority believes the wholesale call termination rates as contained in the final regulations will aid in transitioning the market towards a more competitive landscape as contemplated in the objects of the Electronic Communications Act, 2005.
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