Cellphone call pricing under pressure

[rpm]

Cellphone call pricing under pressure

OPPOSITION to the high cost of making a cellphone call from one network to another is rising, with SA now being derided for falling behind Namibia in its prices.

 

[StbA]

Blatant profiteering.

 

[yavahn]

Shocking...

 

[whatwhat]

Welcome to Africa.

Seriously, how can this even be surprising anymore.

 

[Cloud]

Welcome to Africa.

Seriously, how can this even be surprising anymore.

Yeah, good thing Namibia is in Europe >.<

 

[krycor]

Its simple to fix it in SA.. icasa needs to decide on plan and implement irrespective of their whining as they will always threaten when you cut their profiteering. If companies don't like it and what's implemented is no different to other countries, then they can pack their bags and sell their equipment to the new operators wanting in. Its not like they didn't increase costs an insane %, so in my books the cell companies screwed themselves with the interconnection prices and only have themselves to blame.

 

[Lazy]

The only way out of this is to stop using your phone, which isn't practical at all. I'd hate to see my phone bill this month ;c(

I can't see ICASA actually growing some backbone anytime soon.

 

[ColinR]

Its simple to fix it in SA.. icasa needs to be canned.

Fixed it for you.

 

[moabin]

Yeah, good thing Namibia is in Europe >.<

 

[LabAnimal]

Fixed it for you.

+1

 

[zaknight]

The solution is simple. All what needs to happen is either the cellphone operators licenses to be suspended until they drop their interconnection rates then if one call is charged at the current interconnection rates, they are then fined R 1 000 for every minute they charge their customers that specific rate. Then if they continue to charge the existing rate, their license is suspended indefinitely until such time as they can prove they have addressed the issue.

 

[armitage]

Icasa, in comparison, wants to conduct a study to determine which operators have market dominance before it attempts to fiddle with the fees

Does this mean they are still to start the study? Damn, that's just sad :/

 

[grok]

Jeez, exactly how many times does someone have to point out the blatantly obvious before Icasa will deem it necessary to fullfill its mandate and act? Why for instance wasn't this study started long ago?

Icasa, not only are you a total waste of space, you are actually negatively impacting on the space quota for the rest of us.

 

[henno]

The only way out of this is to stop using your phone, which isn't practical at all. I'd hate to see my phone bill this month ;c(

I can't see ICASA actually growing some backbone anytime soon.

There is an alternative. VOIP on your mobile. I'm hugely impressed with the savings, and quality.

I know it doesnt suit everyone's needs but for me it does.

Running Gizmo5 on my N95's built in VOIP client.

 

[Tns]

we all know icasa is useless at enforcing anything, they after all the current government puppets

 

[Kawak]

ICASA needs to be completely restructured, why is it necessary to see who's the dominant player????? the only party that benefits from this exercise is the dominant player!

WTF??????

WE need pple like us on this forum to run ICASA. thats the only way out of all the mess we're in.

 

[diabolus]

In his submission, Holdsworth argued that SA’s telecoms costs were among the highest in the world, yet Icasa’s new regulations did nothing to address the fees. “It is clear there is either rank profiteering in the South African mobile call termination market or our mobile operators are particularly inefficient.

*waits for Vodacom to respond with "but country [somewhere in siberia] has more expensive calls than us, so the article is incorrect , we are still ahead of the rest of world "*


*further waits for MTN to respond with "but we fixed 1 bazillion faulty bills and network issues in a month, we must be very efficient indeed!*

 

[apogeeza]

Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda has also criticised the high fee and has met the operators to discuss the issue, with no results so far.

Ja, came out will all guns blazing ... (some had high hopes, some were sceptical) .... looks like another fart in the wind.

/steps aside for the arse hole to pass.

 

[whatwhat]

Yeah, good thing Namibia is in Europe >.<

Did I say anything about Namibia or do you think that maybe I was referring that inflated prices are the order of the day here. It's just recently that Namibia had adjustments made in any case. lol.

 

[Just_Ice]

Do the cell phone companies care? No
Are they worried about ICASA? Of course not
Will we see reductions any time soon? I doubt it.
Drastic action is needed