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Pretoria - Interconnection rates charged by cellphone operators will fall only if prices are properly regulated, according to the Competition Commission.
The commission expressed concern on Monday about expectations created by its investigations into complaints against cellphone operators. Deputy commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele said probe results would not make a great difference.
"Despite all the publicity [about the commission's investigations], the reality is that rates will only fall after proper [price] regulation."
The commission's probe started three years ago after complaints by two individuals and, more recently, politician Patricia de Lille.
However, Bonakele said it's not the commission's job to determine prices. Its investigation has to prove that cellphone operators colluded to fix prices and manipulate the market.
The three complaints were combined into one investigation, based on "suspicion" that MTN and Vodacom increased the interconnection rate drastically when Cell C entered the market.
Bonakele declined to say whether any evidence has been found. However, he said the commission would not have continued the probe had there been nothing to confirm the suspicion.
According to Keith Weeks, head of law enforcement at the commission, a summons was issued to Vodacom and MTN to submit certain documents.
He said the commission is still considering whether it will summon employers or former employers to clarify certain issues in the documents.
He said the main reason why the investigations were still dragging on was the question of concurrent jurisdiction between the commission and Icasa. The Electronic Communications Act determines the terms and conditions for the regulation of interconnection rates.
Regulator Icasa only published draft regulations in February 2009.
In South Africa, Weeks said, "market failure" exists because every operator in effect has a monopoly over its own network. If an MTN subscriber uses Vodacom's network to speak to a Vodacom subscribers, MTN pays for it.
The market in the US, and even in the UK, makes provision for the caller's and the receiver's operators to pay for the use of the network.
- Sake24.com
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