Regulation will lower communication costs

Parliament's communications portfolio committee last week concluded its two-week public hearings on the cost to communicate in SA amid mounting pressure on the regulator, Icasa, for allegedly allowing mobile service companies to rip off the poor. The hearings have highlighted the public's frustration with cellphone companies‚ with most presenters blaming Vodacom and MTN for the high costs.

The two operators have faced harsh criticism for being resistant to passing price cuts in mobile termination rates on to consumers.

Termination rates are the fees operators charge each other for customers to make calls across networks. The rates have come down from a high of R1.25 three years ago to 40c today.

Sikhumbuzo Kholwane‚ chairman of Parliament's communications portfolio committee said last week that the committee wanted to ensure that South Africans‚ especially the poor‚ were able to make calls‚ send messages and have access to the Internet at the lowest possible rates.

Legislation required

Kholwane said that the public hearings were designed to inform legislators on what people needed done in order for Parliament to put in place legislation that would result in affordable communication costs becoming a reality.

"We believe that it is only through legislative impetus that Icasa can ensure reasonable pricing and market structure in this sector‚" said Kholwane. He said that the committee wanted to put in place legislation that would penalise network operators flouting any of the regulations.

Last week‚ members of Parliament's labour and public enterprises select committee criticised Icasa for failing to perform and allowing mobile service companies to rip-off the poor.

The cost to communicate in SA is among the highest in the world. The country has been ranked 117th out of 140 countries in terms of mobile tariffs and the department of communications said that existing legislation - the Electronic Communications Act - does not make provision for price regulation.

Vodacom and MTN have said that despite the harsh economic environment in SA‚ they continue to bring down the cost of data and voice services in a bid to spread access to communication.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge