Chantelle Benjamin and Lesley Stones
29 October 2009
Johannesburg — THE Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has not only ignored Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda's directive to reduce the cost of cellphone calls by next month, but has admitted that its regulations to cut the costs will only be issued next June.
Icasa's refusal to take firm action over the contentious issue of cross- network interconnection fees will infuriate consumers and MPs.
Growing public pressure has spurred Parliament's committee on communications and the minister into castigating the regulator for failing to curb the fees.
Yet Icasa said yesterday its legal processes would only conclude in June -- three months behind a deadline of March it set itself. That dashes hoped that cuts will be imposed in time to give customers cheaper calls over the peak Christmas season.
The issue centres on the fee of R1,25 a minute that the operators charge at peak periods for linking a call from one network to another. Those fees have been under discussion for several years.
A study completed in 2007 for Icasa reached the conclusion that interconnection rate "was one of the priority markets to be subjected to pro-competitive regulation".
Icasa said yesterday it had "begun the second phase of the process of assessing competitiveness in the call- termination market". This was expected to be finalised by June.
Nyanda's spokesman, Tiyani Rikhotso, said he had not yet been informed of the content of Icasa's news briefing yesterday, but said the minister felt Icasa had already taken too long to resolve the matter.
When asked yesterday why Icasa did not plan to implement the instant cost-cutting directive from the minister, councillor Robert Nkuna said: "We understand it to be subject for public consultation and we will submit our comments in due course."
Icasa did not clarify by how much the interconnection fee could eventually be forced down, despite the minister insisting that the fee should be no more than the cost of providing the service. Nkuna said a reasonable interconnection rate would cover the cost of providing the service, and ensure that the profit mark-up it would allow the operators to add "does not exceed 50% of the cost".
Icasa councillor Thabo Makhakhe said, however, that any fee structure would need to include a "price cap" to ensure that prices did not skyrocket the next year.
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