License fee regulations released
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) published the long awaited license fee regulations yesterday. The main purpose of the license fee regulations is to prescribe the administration fees associated with applying for or registering a license, and the annual license fees payable by licensed telecoms providers.
These regulations apply to both class and individual Electronic Communications Services (ECS) and Electronic Communications Network Services (ECNS) licensees. There are however three sets of licensees which are exempt from annual license fees: Class licenses for community broadcasting, individual licenses for public broadcasting services and some licensees in the transport, storage and communications sector.
License fees
The annual license fees payable by licenses will be 1.5% of the gross profit of the company. ICASA stipulated that the total gross profit is calculated as a company’s gross profit minus its total costs.
This ‘1.5% of gross annual profit’ license fee is significantly less than the initially planned figure of 3% of a company’s annual revenue, and it is not surprising that industry welcomed the amendments.
Class license registrations, amendments and transfers will cost R 10 000 and license renewal applications will cost R 5 000. Individual license amendments and transfers will cost R 50 000 each while renewal of licenses is priced at R 5 000.
ICASA did not provide fees for new Individual ECNS licenses as the authority cannot issue out further individual licenses under the ECA until the Minister has issued a policy direction authorizing them to do so. Once this happens ICASA will design an ‘invitation to apply’ (ITA) and specify the application fee.
Industry comment
The Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (ISPA) previously said it welcomes revised license fees. “…The new proposed licence fees of 1.5% of operating profit generated from licensed activities is certainly far more palatable than the initially proposed levy of 3% of annual gross revenue,” said ISPA.
“ICASA gets its fair share of criticism but they should be applauded for the manner in which they have recognised the deficiencies of their previous approach and set out to remedy them,” said regulatory legal expert Dominic Cull, director at Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions.
Cull said he is “extremely happy that ICASA has retained the exemption for small businesses with 50 or less employees, a turnover less than R13million and less than R3m in assets excluding fixed property.”
Cull applauded ICASA for their work on the regulations, saying that “this seems to be a growing trend from some divisions of ICASA and it can only be hoped that the practice is more widely adopted by the Authority.”
ICASA license fee regulations – give your views
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