Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) – also known as interconnect rates – have come under severe fire from industry players, parliament, consumers and the media in 2009.<\/p>\n
This backlash against the mobile operators resulted in Peak Mobile Termination Rates falling from the previous R1.25 per minute to 89c per minute in March after an agreement was reached between the cellular operators and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).<\/p>\n
ICASA however promised to take the matter further by ‘coming up with its own pricing which is cost based’. ICASA Chairman Paris Mashile said in early 2010 that the regulator has already determined that the cellular environment is not fully competitive, and that there are significant market players.<\/p>\n
ICASA today announced that it has completed its review of the local telecoms\/cellular market, concluding that some form of regulation is necessary to overcome identified market failures.<\/p>\n
ICASA has further indicated that it will issue draft regulations on Wholesale Call Termination on Friday, 16 April 2010.<\/p>\n
The telecoms regulator further announced that it has released its final interconnection regulations on Friday 9 April. These regulations provide a framework for the conclusion of interconnection agreements and support the objective of a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory access regime in the electronic communications sector. <\/p>\n