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15
April 2010 |
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The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) took telecommunications operators to task at its public hearing on Wednesday over allegedly swindling consumers in cellphone and telephone contracts. Icasa chairman Paris Mashile said the regulator was forced to look into matters as a result of "a huge mountain of concerns raised" by consumers. "The key issues are lack of transparency of details in the contract vis-a-vis handset subsidy and the service provided as well as the issue of unused... |
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15
April 2010 |
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Telkom will launch its mobile service later this year, says Pinky Moholi, MD of Telkom SA. Telkom Mobile will use MTN's network for the beginning phases of its life, following the signing of a five-year agreement by the companies. The deal could see the first signs of a true Telkom Mobile offering before the end of this year. The official announcement puts to rest speculation that Telkom and MTN have been close to a deal since early March; however, it has sparked new speculation that a bigger plan may be... |
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15
April 2010 |
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The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has finally weighed in on the interconnect issue. It wants mobile termination rates (interconnect) cut to 65c per minute in July. These are currently set at 89c per minute (peak) now, thanks to an agreement from MTN, Vodacom and Cell C. The peak rate was R1.25 before the drop on March 1. The three operators were under pressure from Parliament's portfolio committee on communications, the Department of Communications as well... |
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15
April 2010 |
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A Johannesburg marketer has told Eyewitness News he is trying to mobilise support for a class action lawsuit against cell phone network Vodacom because of the high rate of dropped calls and poor network coverage. However, Vodacom says its service compares favourably with that of other operators internationally and such legal action would not be fair. The company insists it takes complaints about dropped calls and poor network coverage very seriously. Johannesburg marketer David Pearl says he is frustrate... |
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15
April 2010 |
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Operators are worried that paying out customers for unused minutes could lead to fraud. Telecoms operators surprised a panel of regulatory councillors yesterday, saying that allowing users to be paid back for unused minutes or data will cause a rush of money laundering in SA. The operators' concerns follow a code of conduct on handset subsidies, released by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), which governs the way operators need to treat subscribers using their services. The code says... |
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15
April 2010 |
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The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on Thursday finalised interconnection and call termination regulations, delivering a much-needed fillip to consumers. In delivering its stipulations, Icasa said competition was lacking in South African telecommunications, and that more transparency was required. In terms of the new regulations, mobile interconnect rates must be reduced to R0.65 per call by July 2010 and decrease to R0.50 by July 2011, and to R0.40 a year later. For fixed lines... |
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15
April 2010 |
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The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) today startled the industry, slashing mobile interconnect rates to 40c by 2012. The authority says these cuts must show 100% pass-through to the consumer. The regulator made the surprise announcement during a press conference held at its head office, in Sandton, this morning, generating cheers from alternate operators, like ECN, hoping to make it big in the telecoms market. "The regulator could not have done a better job on these regulations. Every... |
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15
April 2010 |
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Termination rates are the charges one telecommunications operator charges another for receiving calls on its network. Between 2000 and 2002, the duopoly of MTN and Vodacom increased interconnection rates from 50 cents to R1.25 over a period of 17 months. This, according to former Cell C chief executive Jeffrey Hedberg and others, was designed to shut out any new competition, especially the then new entrant, Cell C. Icasa therefore proposed a 3-year glide-path for both mobile and fixed service licensees... |
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15
April 2010 |
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Cellphone network operators have warned the industry regulator that forcing them to credit consumers with their unused airtime would have a negative effect on their financial reporting and would limit innovation in the market. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) plans to regulate the contract cellphone market by forcing operators to credit consumers with their unused airtime and if consumers wished to terminate the contract and roll over unused minutes. It also wants operators... |
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14
April 2010 |
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State-owned telecommunications infrastructure operator Broadband Infraco will "consider all its options" in the wake of a decision by its regulator not to grant it a service licence. Infraco CEO Dave Smith (pictured) says the decision by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) not to grant it an electronic communications service (ECS) licence in terms of the Electronic Communications Act could have serious implications for the company. Icasa last week published a notice in the Government... |
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14
April 2010 |
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Telkom has finally confirmed that it has signed a roaming agreement with cellular operator MTN. TechCentral reported a month ago that the two parties would sign the deal. In a statement released via the JSE on Wednesday afternoon, Telkom says it had concluded a five-year national roaming agreement with MTN. MTN rival Vodacom had also been bidding for the Telkom business. In terms of the agreement, Telkom and its customers will have national access to MTNs 2G and 3G networks throughout the country. Telkom... |
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13
April 2010 |
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Vodacom is stepping up its fight with rivals MTN and Cell C by introducing "free" on-network weekend and after-hours minutes to its contract subscribers from 1 May 2010. "Vodacom contract customers will receive up to three hours of free calls to use over weekends or weekday nights to call other Vodacom customers," the company says. "Most customers on contract packages will now get a more minutesђ bundle to use during weekends or weekday nights from 8pm-7am," Vodacom says. "The allocated free minutes are ... |
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8
April 2010 |
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Cellular company MTN South Africa conceded gremlins were running amok with the upgrade of its billing systems, difficulties that have led to discrepancies with bills for its subscribers. Karel Pienaar, MD of MTN South Africa, said that his company was "hard at work" rectifying the problems and was proactively identifying customers who may have been affected. "MTN is following due process investigating the claims made by customers surrounding their voice and data usage. We have been in communications with ... |
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7
April 2010 |
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Neotel is in discussions with undersea cable consortium Seacom to have more capacity lit up on the cable soon. Angus Hay, Neotel's executive head of technology, says Africa's reaction to Seacom has been astounding, and the company has sold all the available capacity on the cable in under a year. "The growth has been spectacular," he notes. Neotel is now in discussions with the consortium to open up more capacity on the line; however, Hay will not indicate how much Neotel hopes to light up for fear of... |
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7
April 2010 |
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TELECOMS provider Neotel has called on the market to continue putting pressure on the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to implement local loop unbundling (LLU), arguing that it is a key enabler to true competition in the market. LLU refers to the process of operators other than Telkom gaining access to Telkom's wires that link its exchanges to its customers' premises. "Let's not take the pressure off (the regulator to implement LLU). LLU will make a substantial difference to competition... |
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