Share

Icasa slashes cellphone call costs

Cape Town - The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on Wednesday halved the fees mobile phone companies can charge rivals to use their network, part of plan to reduce call costs in Africa.

Icasa said the costs would be cut to 20 cents from 40c from March 1.

The costs will be further cut to 10c by March 2016, while the costs to fixed lines will also fall over the next three years.

Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) are what mobile operators charge each other to allow rival traffic on their networks, much like a toll.

In SA, Icasa has been trying to drive down the cost of voice and data traffic and the regulator has used the reduction of MTRs as a mechanism to achieve this.

The MTR reductions announced are skewed to allow operators which have less than 20% of the market - namely Cell C and Telkom Mobile - the opportunity to be more aggressive on pricing than major players Vodacom and MTN.

The regulator is also responding to the Draft National Broadband policy finalised in late 2013 and due for implementation at the end of the first quarter 2014.

"While there is some vigorous competition among mobile operators in the sale of retail mobile data, and some resale by some of the larger ISPs, there is not significant scope for price competition without serious wholesale access regulation, and service providers tend to focus as a result on their valued added services to compete," the document says in relation to both mobile and fixed line broadband access.

The policy direction implies that the government will, through regulator intervention, drive competition to reduce data pricing to consumers.

"The data market has not been as effectively regulated as voice and the issues of wholesale access to fixed and mobile networks by competitors is a key issue in creating sufficient competition in data services to drive down prices," the document says.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
19.02
-0.6%
Rand - Pound
24.01
-0.5%
Rand - Euro
20.52
-0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.35
+0.0%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.6%
Platinum
900.40
+0.4%
Palladium
998.40
-0.3%
Gold
2,211.77
+0.8%
Silver
24.64
-0.0%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,114
+0.6%
All Share
74,310
+0.5%
Resource 10
56,946
+2.3%
Industrial 25
103,653
+0.4%
Financial 15
16,467
-0.3%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders