Patricia de Lille slams mobile operators
De Lille’s comments came after the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) turned down a proposed voluntary reduction in interconnection rates received from the three operators on January 25.
“Their proposed reduction of peak-time rates from R1.25 to 89 cents a minute in March 2010, 85 cents a minute in October 2011 and 80 cents a minute in October 2012 are as pathetic as they are insulting to Parliament and the people of South Africa,” De Lille said.
The offer received by Icasa from MTN, Vodacom and Cell C proposed that the current 77 cents rate for the off-peak interconnection rate remain the same until 2013.
The operators made the implementation of their proposal subject to the condition that Icasa undertook to not review mobile termination rates until March 1, 2013.
“When their CEOs appeared before our communication portfolio committee in Parliament there was no talk of conditions,” De Lille said.
“They have got no right to set conditions for the regulator. The ID supports Icasa’s rejection of the operators’ pathetic glide path and their conditions.”
De Lille’s campaign to bring down telecommunications costs began in July last year, when she lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission calling on it to investigate, “whether the operators, particularly the dominant players, are acting anti-competitively or are guilty of any prohibited practices”.
“I am getting sick and tired of these mobile phone operators playing games at the expense of ordinary South Africans and especially the poor,’ De Lille said.
“The fact that MTN has agreed to sizeable reductions in the rates in the Nigerian market but cannot do the same here shows just how unpatriotic and opportunistic these operators can be.
“I think the time has arrived for us to seriously start talking about an immediate reduction of the interconnection rate to 60 cents a minute during off-peak and peak-times.”
de Lille slams mobile operators– Discussion
Loading ...