Vodacom has prepared its network for the implementation of the amended End-User and Subscriber Services Charter Regulations published by ICASA, although it still needs some clarification from the regulator.<\/p>\n
These regulations will require mobile operators to enable the rollover of unused data and to facilitate the transfer of data to other users on the same network.<\/p>\n
Additionally, mobile operators will no longer be able to charge out-of-bundle rates by default.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Cell C applied for an interdict against ICASA to have the implementation postponed due to a lack of clarification from ICASA on multiple requests regarding the regulations.<\/p>\n
ICASA contested this court application, and the two operators are set to battle out the issue in court this month.<\/p>\n
Speaking in an interview with MyBroadband, Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said Vodacom was prepared to implement these regulations and has even taken steps towards diminishing out-of-bundle data usage.<\/p>\n
Joosub said that Vodacom has been building the various products and systems required to meet the regulations.<\/p>\n
“We have been readying the network and creating the different product constructs that are needed for full implementation,” he said.<\/p>\n
He added that further clarification from ICASA is required in order for Vodacom to proceed, but the network is otherwise ready to add support for the new functionality.<\/p>\n
“I would say we are very close to implementation, but we still need some clarifications from the regulator.”<\/p>\n
“We have written to them to ask for clarifications, but because of this court case, they have not been saying too much,” Joosub said.<\/p>\n
He said that these clarifications are needed to provide guidance for situations where some of the new rules would be difficult or impossible to implement.<\/p>\n
“I think hopefully once the court case gets resolved we can get clarity on certain things, for example sending notifications on machine-to-machine communications, where there is nothing to send it to,” Joosub said.<\/p>\n
Joosub noted that Vodacom has been making steady efforts to shift customers from out-of-bundle data usage for some time now in preparation for the implementation of the new regulations.<\/p>\n
This initiative resulted in the company’s interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2018 reflecting a slightly lower data revenue growth of 7.5%.<\/p>\n
However, the company has seen strong growth in the number of data bundles sold, driven by its Just 4 You personalised offers.<\/p>\n
Data traffic continues to see impressive growth on Vodacom’s network, and the number of active data users has increased.<\/p>\n
Joosub said that Vodacom would continue to reduce out-of-bundle data spend, taking steps to reduce exposure to customers.<\/p>\n
“What we are doing is trying to bring down and reduce out-of-bundle exposure, hence our subdued data growth because we have taken deliberate steps to try and deal with it.”<\/p>\n
Vodacom has prepared its network for the implementation of ICASA’s new regulations, although it still needs clarification from the regulator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341028,"featured_media":232631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7437,35,533,41],"class_list":["post-284302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-data-rollover","tag-headline","tag-icasa","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284664,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284302\/revisions\/284664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}