Communications regulator Icasa has retracted a suggestion by one of its councillors that South Africa’s mobile operators may be colluding over new data expiry rules, an embarrassing climbdown for the authority three days after the claim was aired in parliament.

In a statement late on Friday, Icasa said it had received “numerous requests for clarification” of its position on the end-user and subscriber service charter amendment regulations. The use of the term collusion, it said, “in this instance is retracted”.

The authority went further, conceding it has no evidentiary basis for the claim. It has not conducted a market assessment or investigation establishing collusion among the operators, the statement said, and no such finding had been made.

The retraction follows a briefing to parliament’s portfolio committee on communications & digital technologies on 11 August, first reported by News24, at which Icasa councillor Catherine Mushi told MPs that the similarity of the operators’ objections pointed to a “pattern”.

The operators argue the rules erode product differentiation, and Mushi questioned why they should all be affected equally by them, asking why their products looked almost the same. She acknowledged at the time that Icasa had done no studies, describing it as an observation that concerned the regulator.

Icasa chair Mothibi Ramusi told the same meeting that apparent collusive behaviour would prompt both Icasa and the Competition Commission to examine how the market responds to regulatory change.

Rejected

Vodacom rejected the suggestion, telling News24 that operators subject to the same regulatory framework may independently raise similar concerns and that this is not evidence of coordination. Tariffs are filed with Icasa and pricing information is public, the company said, so similarities between competing products should not be read as proof of collusion.

Friday’s statement did not retreat from Icasa’s underlying observation. The authority said it acknowledged the operators’ support for the objective of protecting consumers, while maintaining that it had identified significant alignment on the substantive issues in dispute. What it withdrew was the word, not the pattern.

The development comes just weeks after MTN and Vodacom served Icasa with court papers asking the high court to review and set aside parts of the regulations. MTN’s application targets three elements — the rollover requirement, the opt-in for out-of-bundle charges and the unrestricted transfer requirement — arguing Icasa acted beyond its powers. Vodacom filed its own review, saying aspects of the rules are ambiguous and difficult to implement.

The regulations, gazetted in January and due to take effect in January 2027, will force operators to roll over the unused portion of data, voice and SMS bundles at least once at the end of the validity period, automatically and free of charge. Bundles valid for seven days or less, along with uncapped, free and promotional bundles, are excluded.

The dispute has run for more than four years. Icasa first proposed a six-month rollover in 2022 before walking that back in 2024 in favour of the once-off requirement. MTN branded the proposals regulatory overreach at public hearings that year, and both operators pressed Icasa unsuccessfully to conduct a regulatory impact assessment before finalising the rules — a complaint that now forms part of their court challenge, though Mushi told MPs the authority is not legally required to conduct one.