Govt warns telecoms cartels
Briefing journalists in Parliament on Wednesday, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa particularly identified the telecommunications, banking and carbon steel sectors as worthy of monitoring.
"These are some of the areas where we see concentration which has an impact on pricing," he said, "and an impact on downstream industries which we are trying to promote".
Mpahlwa said that a review of competition policy prior to strengthening the legislation has been completed by his department, and has been consulted with other cluster departments.
"Based on these consultations we will forward our proposed amendments to cabinet for consideration," he said. "We will be looking at strengthening the hand of the competition authorities."
One of the problems competition authorities face is that there are several of them with overlapping responsibilities. Several regulators also have competition interests, such as the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa). "Overlapping jurisdictions will be clarified," the minister said.
The minister also spoke about the need for "an overarching framework for regulators" – the absence of which is considered to be hampering the pace of infrastructure roll-out to boost growth.
"Such a high level framework will ensure a consistent overall approach to economic regulation," Mpahlwa said.
The presidency is leading this work and relevant academics, international experts, regulators and departments are engaged in it. The minister expected the work to be completed by the end of this year.
"One can state at this stage," he said, "that there is an interdependence between policy makers and policy implementers, i.e. regulators.
"This means that clear communication channels between the regulator and the policy maker need to be established in terms of policy objectives".
He insisted that a consistent framework for regulators will reduce tensions between the departments and the regulators.
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