Nyanda slams mobile operators
On Friday an industry-led process to cut interconnect rates broke down, with the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) announcing that the mobile operators had nothing to put on the table as they could not come up with an agreed mobile termination rate amongst themselves. According to ICASA “the moral suasion process did not yield positive results”.
MTN and Vodacom announced that they have agreed on a ‘blended interconnect rate’ of 78c per minute, significantly lower than the current blended rate of around R 1.00 per minute. While no firm details have been laid down regarding the proposed peak and off peak mobile termination rates, it is understood that the new peak interconnect rate will drop to less than R 1.00 per minute while the off-peak rate will fall below R 0.70 per minute.
MTN and Vodacom were however unable to get buy-in from Cell C. “Unfortunately we have been unable to reach agreement with Cell C who has insisted on an asymmetric approach,” Vodacom said in a press statement.
Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt however argues that the proposals from its competitors offer no significant changes to the current regime and it is for this reason that they are in disagreement with Vodacom and MTN.
The Minister of Communications, Siphiwe Nyanda has now weighed in on the issue, slamming the mobile operators for only being concerned about their bottom line. The Sunday Times quoted Nyanda as saying that “the bigger operators like Vodacom and MTN were concerned only with the bottom line, rather than the continued ‘super-exploitation’ of consumers.”
“I initiated the process of lowering costs by meeting with all the relevant operators. I then issued the policy directive (to Icasa) because they were moving very slowly and were being … unreasonable … and not willing to take significant steps (to lower costs),” The Sunday Times quoted Nyanda as saying. “They could have done it by themselves without any interference by me or Icasa. They had the option to do that over time, but failed to so.”
Nyanda further slated ICASA for “veering from its mandate to regulate and had ‘no business in politics and in trying to persuade (the operators) to do anything”.
“Given that the moral suasion process did not yield positive results, the Authority will nevertheless continue with its regulatory processes of developing a framework for competition and cost-based pricing in the voice market as set out in Chapter 10 of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA),” ICASA said.
According to The Weekender ICASA has already conceded that the cost to terminate calls is no more than 40c a minute, and that the regulator can follow a new policy directive from the Communications Minister to impose a cost based rate.
“We are convinced that the conclusion of our regulatory work, as outlined in the law, remains the most optimal way to the resolution of these matters. This process will also be concluded by end of this financial year (31 March 2010),” ICASA concluded.
Communications Minister & Mobile providers – discussion
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