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Cape Town - The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) said on Friday that regulations for call rate cuts have been postponed.
Icasa published regulations which include a 50% cut in Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) with effect from March 1 2014. However, the regulator said in a statement that this has been delayed to May 1 2014.
The decision was taken as a result papers lodged in the South Gauteng High Court by MTN [JSE:MTN].
It is seeking an urgent interim order to stop the MTRs from coming into effect until the legal process has been fully exhausted.
“The urgent application was enrolled for hearing on February 25 2014,” Icasa said.
“The high court’s decision will have wide-ranging effects on the parties and the public at large, including subscribers for telecommunications services.
“As such, it is important that the high court is fully informed of all the relevant issues before making its decision and it is therefore necessary that the affected parties have sufficient time to properly prepare their answering papers, particularly given the complexity of the matter,” Icasa said.
The communications regulator will publish amendment regulations to delay the introduction of the new regulations and to keep existing regulations in place.
MTN not a greedy monster - CEO
MTN CEO Zunaid Bulbulia said on Friday that the group's legal battle Icasa about the regulator's cheaper call rates should not be construed as an attempt to keep the costs of telecommunications high.
"There is a common goal in the industry to reduce costs and to promote fair competition. Both are good for our customers and for our business," he said in a statement on Friday.
"MTN believes that the decline in MTRs must be driven by a fair process and an appropriate costing study to ensure MTRs is reflective of the costs incurred by all players in the market, including smaller players."
The regulations by Icasa fall short of these requirements, alleges MTN and therefore it instituted legal proceedings against the communications regulator.
Call rates
MTRs are the fees that operators charge each other to carry calls between their networks.
Icasa wants mobile termination rates to be cut from the 40 cents to 20 cents.
For fixed lines, call rates will drop to 12c for short-distance calls and 16c for long-distance calls.
In addition, Icasa has also introduced an asymmetric system in a bid to help smaller operators grow.
This means bigger operators would pay 44c a minute to carry calls to smaller operators, while smaller operators would pay 20c a minute to their bigger rivals.
There is also speculation that Vodacom [JSE:VOD] would institute a legal challenge against Icasa, but no papers have yet been served.
- Fin24
Icasa published regulations which include a 50% cut in Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) with effect from March 1 2014. However, the regulator said in a statement that this has been delayed to May 1 2014.
The decision was taken as a result papers lodged in the South Gauteng High Court by MTN [JSE:MTN].
It is seeking an urgent interim order to stop the MTRs from coming into effect until the legal process has been fully exhausted.
“The urgent application was enrolled for hearing on February 25 2014,” Icasa said.
“The high court’s decision will have wide-ranging effects on the parties and the public at large, including subscribers for telecommunications services.
“As such, it is important that the high court is fully informed of all the relevant issues before making its decision and it is therefore necessary that the affected parties have sufficient time to properly prepare their answering papers, particularly given the complexity of the matter,” Icasa said.
The communications regulator will publish amendment regulations to delay the introduction of the new regulations and to keep existing regulations in place.
MTN not a greedy monster - CEO
MTN CEO Zunaid Bulbulia said on Friday that the group's legal battle Icasa about the regulator's cheaper call rates should not be construed as an attempt to keep the costs of telecommunications high.
"There is a common goal in the industry to reduce costs and to promote fair competition. Both are good for our customers and for our business," he said in a statement on Friday.
"MTN believes that the decline in MTRs must be driven by a fair process and an appropriate costing study to ensure MTRs is reflective of the costs incurred by all players in the market, including smaller players."
The regulations by Icasa fall short of these requirements, alleges MTN and therefore it instituted legal proceedings against the communications regulator.
Call rates
MTRs are the fees that operators charge each other to carry calls between their networks.
Icasa wants mobile termination rates to be cut from the 40 cents to 20 cents.
For fixed lines, call rates will drop to 12c for short-distance calls and 16c for long-distance calls.
In addition, Icasa has also introduced an asymmetric system in a bid to help smaller operators grow.
This means bigger operators would pay 44c a minute to carry calls to smaller operators, while smaller operators would pay 20c a minute to their bigger rivals.
There is also speculation that Vodacom [JSE:VOD] would institute a legal challenge against Icasa, but no papers have yet been served.
- Fin24
