Cellular call price cuts needed, says experts
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (ICASA’s) public hearings for the Draft Call Termination Regulations are currently under way with South Africa’s telecoms operators battling it out to have their way with the regulator.
High interconnect rates have been blamed for the country’s high mobile call rates, but certain parties argue that the mobile interconnect price cuts which kicked in on 1 March had no real effect on consumer pricing.
Speaking to eNews Howard Sackstein, Executive Director of Saicom Voice Services, said that he has seen no change in their mobile bills from March, adding that prices have even increased in some cases. Sackstein runs around 100,000 cellular accounts which gives a good overview of average cellular call prices.
Sackstein said that prices from the mobile operators have not decreased as expected after the March mobile termination rate cuts, and apart from some ‘window dressing’ from Vodacom, MTN and Cell C no significant price changes have been seen.
World Wide Worx Strategy director Steven Ambrose said that it is not surprising that mobile call rates did not decrease. He added that interconnect rates are only one of the factors to blame for high mobile call rates.
The cellular providers told ICASA that a more gradual glide path is needed for them to adapt their business models and accommodate the lower mobile termination rates, but Ambrose told eNews that he believes a glide path is unnecessary.
Ambrose said that ICASA must decide on an appropriate call termination rate and implement it. It will then be up to the telecoms operators to adapt their business models quickly and ensure that they remain competitive.
Ambrose further said that the telecoms players should bring down the current ‘exorbitant call rates’ in real terms – something which consumers can feel. “They are currently just playing with numbers,” said Ambrose.
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