South Africa’s mobile operators have submitted a new proposal on interconnection fees that they hope will be approved by the telecoms regulator ICASA.
In the new proposal, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C promise the same rate cuts that they had initially…
South Africa’s mobile operators have submitted a new proposal on interconnection fees that they hope will be approved by the telecoms regulator ICASA.
In the new proposal, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C promise the same rate cuts that they had initially suggested last month.
However, the revised plan omits the contentious three-year review freeze that they had initially required from ICASA, and which had led the agency to reject the initial plan.
The condition would have prevented ICASA from reviewing interconnection rates until March 2013.
By removing this clause, hopes are that ICASA will now accept the plan and cut short a process that has already taken far too long.
As part of the operators’ proposal, peak rates would drop from R1.25 to R0.89 in March, further dropping to R0.85 in October 2011 and R0.80 in October 2012. Off-peak rates, meanwhile, would remain at their current levels until 2013.
