Uncapped ADSL – did ICASA bastardize the term?
ICASA published the ADSL Regulations in 2006, but to date the regulations have had little effect on how companies provision ADSL services and develop ADSL products. ICASA was widely criticized for the poor set of regulations, but despite promises of revisiting the ADSL regulations and addressing some of the concerns the regulator seemed to try hard to avoid the issue.
ICASA was asked on numerous occasions to explain the meaning of the regulations, but to date the regulator has not once tried to clarify the intended outcomes of the regulatory issues mentioned in the official document.
One of the most contentious issues in the ADSL regulations is the issue of uncapped local bandwidth. The ADSL regulations state: “Local bandwidth usage shall not be subject to the cap.” It was initially accepted that it means that local ADSL subscribers will enjoy free local bandwidth, but it soon became clear that Telkom would not revert back to its initial ADSL model of offering subscribers unlimited free local bandwidth.
The poorly worded ADSL regulations, a view expressed by numerous stakeholders, gave ADSL providers like Telkom an easy loophole to say that local bandwidth is not capped, but that users would be charged for any usage exceeding their cap.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – which are typically only Telkom/SAIX ADSL bandwidth resellers – cannot implement the ‘uncapped local’ regulations as they run the risk of incurring high bills. While they wait for Telkom to produce an uncapped local bandwidth model, the incumbent operator in turn places the responsibility on the individual ISPs.
“ISPs, including TelkomInternet, obviously need to comply with the ADSL Regulation in this regard. Please note that Telkom, as a wholesale provider of Internet connectivity to ISPs does not cap customers as this is a functionally of the ISPs. Accordingly, we suggest that you take this matter up with your ISP,” Telkom said at the time.
The local ADSL market has mostly sidelined the ADSL regulations, but the lingering effects of ICASA’s poor choice of words and Telkom’s interpretation regarding uncapped local bandwidth reverberates throughout the ADSL market.
In one online marketing campaign Vanilla, an ISP reselling ADSL services, advertises “ADSL from R 39 uncapped”. The service is actually a 500 MB data bundle, charged at R 39.00, where additional bandwidth is charged at 10c per MB.
While most ISPs still use the term “uncapped” to describe a flat rated broadband service with unlimited bandwidth usage, some of their counterparts are using the term to denote a service where consumers are not cut off but rather billed for all usage over a certain limit. This causes confusion, and even places companies who use the term correctly at a disadvantage.
ICASA was once again asked for feedback about the ADSL regulations and what is meant by “Local bandwidth usage shall not be subject to the cap”, but the regulator did not provide any information by the time of publication.
Uncapped ADSL – what do you think it means?
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