DoC policy direction to cut interconnect rate

DoC issues policy direction to cut interconnect rate

The Department of Communications’ policy direction on Mobile Termination Rates gazetted yesterday

well have you not noticed that the syphoning basterds have already threatened to up other parts of your bill?

I don't the big fuss really, I doubt I will see any major reduction in call costs.

This is the way it should be done, imo. There was an article showing how much they made each year just from interconnect fees, and no doubt this will have a huge impact on all the cellphone companies and they will have to up costs somewhere.

Why do they not set out goals, make them public, and say "we will be spending our (your) money on xyz" and then the other operater says "we will be spending our (your) money on abc" that way they have the money to progress the compaines, and lets face it 60c from each of us is not worth much alone but together is ALOT of moola.

That way we as consumers can actually make a concious decision on where we want our money to go and what we expect in return

I might have to change my signature...

I must say, I've been pleasantly surprised by our new Minister of Communications. I'm keeping my eyes open, but so far he's been doing more than Ivy or Mac ever did. And he's only been in office since May or so.

As for prices coming down, we'll see. I think the lower IC rates will give companies like Cell C and Virgin more scope to undercut the big operators. They want the bigger market share and I believe they're hungry enough to take the fight to the bigger guys. Cell C are, after all, the people who have been whining about the IC rates the loudest...

I was also quite pleased to see Telkom coming out in support of the venture as well. While this is coincidentally also in the best interests of the consumer, I am under no illusions about their motives. For once, it may be a good thing that their major shareholder is government...

I'm not really expecting the reduction in interconnect rates to have a direct impact on call costs from VC, MTN or Cell-C. Maybe there will be a drop in call costs from Telkom to Mobile, but I'm not holding my breath!

However, I AM expecting the reduction in interconnect rates to foster more competitive prices from the alternate telco's such as Vox, etc, who can now drop their own rates accordingly.

And THAT may put pressure on the incumbents to actually do something.

What I'd love to see following on from THIS exercise is an investigation into the actual call costs charged by VC and MTN, because they are just to similar to not be based on collusion.