A wider range of regulatory solutions is needed to bring down telecommunications costs in SA. A reduction in mobile interconnection fees is just one part of a much bigger puzzle.
That’s the view of Vox Telecom CEO Tony van Marken. “Interconnection is just one element of it,” he says. “You need to ensure everyone can compete effectively in the market.”
Van Marken warns that the only company that will benefit from a reduction in interconnection — these are the fees the mobile operators charge one another and other telecoms companies to carry calls on their networks — is Telkom. There is no reason to believe that a lower interconnection fees will lead to a reduction on the basic cost of mobile calls, he says.
In fact, a piecemeal approach to bringing down telecoms costs could backfire, Van Marken says. He wants carrier preselection, local number portability and local-loop unbundling to be introduced as a matter of urgency. He says all of these regulatory interventions are critical to helping smaller players.
“If you are going to give Telkom an advantage [by cutting mobile interconnect] then give us carrier preselection and local number portability,” Van Marken says.
Carrier preselection will allow consumers to select, in advance, which network to carry a call over. Local number portability will allow people to port their Telkom numbers to other providers.
Telkom already allows customers to port their numbers, but only in blocks of 1 000. “There’s absolutely no reason why local number portability shouldn’t be available to everyone, right now,” he says.
The other obstacle, Van Marken says, is local-loop unbundling. “Until alternative operators have access to the link between telephone exchanges and the homes and businesses of our customers, we can’t offer competitive services. This has been on the cards for years but it’s just not happening.”
Says Van Marken: “Our message is this: if we have an opportunity now to get the issues resolved, let’s get all the issues resolved in one go.”
Analysts say Vox Telecom is vulnerable to a reduction in interconnection rates. Its subsidiary Vox Orion generates a large slice of its revenues from the arbitrage opportunities inherent in the high rates. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral
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