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Johannesburg - Shares of South African mobile operators Vodacom Group [JSE:VOD] and MTN Group [JSE:MTN] fell sharply on Monday after the telecoms regulator said it planned to cut by 75% the fees they can charge rivals to use their network.
Conversely, after years of paying higher charges to connect to the two dominant mobile firms, fixed-line operator Telkom saw its shares jump to a 1-1/2 year high.
The government, facing elections next year, is on a push to reduce call costs that are above the average on the continent.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) said on Friday after the market closed that it planned to cut so-called mobile termination rates (MTR) to 10 cents by 2016, from 40c now.
The fixed-line termination rate - the amount mobile phone companies pay for calls to landlines - will remain unchanged.
"It has blasted the way open by drastically reducing the single largest cost factor in prices, namely the MTR, which both Vodacom and MTN enjoy," said Alan Knott-Craig, chief executive at privately owned number three mobile operator Cell C.
Three years ago, Icasa ruled a lack of competition in connecting calls had led to inefficient pricing, and imposed new pricing on Vodacom and MTN for mobile connections.
Yet South Africa still ranks 30th among 46 African countries in terms of pre-paid telephony affordability, according to a 2012 study by Research ICT Africa.
The report cited neighbouring Namibia as having some of the cheapest call rates despite having had similar call termination rates as South Africa only a few years ago.
Icasa's draft regulations are due to be published this week and companies will have 14 days to comment.
If past experience is anything to go by, the companies are likely to drag their feet in passing on the cuts in the form of lower tariffs, according to Spiwe Chireka, a telecoms analyst at advisory firm IDC.
"Service providers are not quick to cut rates when termination rates go down. It would be interesting to see how Icasa or the Department of Communication would ensure that those mobile termination cuts are transferred into consumer tariffs," she said.
Shares of Vodacom, which has the largest number of South African subscribers and a market value of $18.4bn, were down nearly 6% to R116.66 at 14:05.
MTN, which with a market value of $37.5bn is Africa's largest mobile operator but has a smaller portion of the domestic market, dropped 3.1% to R192.85.
Telkom, on the other hand, jumped 5% to R26.5, its highest since March 2012.
Conversely, after years of paying higher charges to connect to the two dominant mobile firms, fixed-line operator Telkom saw its shares jump to a 1-1/2 year high.
The government, facing elections next year, is on a push to reduce call costs that are above the average on the continent.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) said on Friday after the market closed that it planned to cut so-called mobile termination rates (MTR) to 10 cents by 2016, from 40c now.
The fixed-line termination rate - the amount mobile phone companies pay for calls to landlines - will remain unchanged.
"It has blasted the way open by drastically reducing the single largest cost factor in prices, namely the MTR, which both Vodacom and MTN enjoy," said Alan Knott-Craig, chief executive at privately owned number three mobile operator Cell C.
Three years ago, Icasa ruled a lack of competition in connecting calls had led to inefficient pricing, and imposed new pricing on Vodacom and MTN for mobile connections.
Yet South Africa still ranks 30th among 46 African countries in terms of pre-paid telephony affordability, according to a 2012 study by Research ICT Africa.
The report cited neighbouring Namibia as having some of the cheapest call rates despite having had similar call termination rates as South Africa only a few years ago.
Icasa's draft regulations are due to be published this week and companies will have 14 days to comment.
If past experience is anything to go by, the companies are likely to drag their feet in passing on the cuts in the form of lower tariffs, according to Spiwe Chireka, a telecoms analyst at advisory firm IDC.
"Service providers are not quick to cut rates when termination rates go down. It would be interesting to see how Icasa or the Department of Communication would ensure that those mobile termination cuts are transferred into consumer tariffs," she said.
Shares of Vodacom, which has the largest number of South African subscribers and a market value of $18.4bn, were down nearly 6% to R116.66 at 14:05.
MTN, which with a market value of $37.5bn is Africa's largest mobile operator but has a smaller portion of the domestic market, dropped 3.1% to R192.85.
Telkom, on the other hand, jumped 5% to R26.5, its highest since March 2012.
