Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig has warned of legal action if the telecommunications regulator does not cut mobile termination rates by the end of the year, according to a report on Friday.
“I will use everything in my power to get Icasa [the Independent Communications Authority of SA] to do its job,” Knott-Craig told Business Day newspaper.
“We have to protect our company and the industry. It is also in the interest of consumers.”
Mobile termination rates are the fees that mobile operators pay to carry each other’s calls on their networks. Last month, the rates were cut from 56c/minute to 40c/minute.
High termination rates are seen as a barrier to small and new entrants in the industry.
Knott-Craig, Vodacom’s founding CEO, wants the rates to be cut to 10c, but wants a 40c/minute “asymmetric” interconnection rate for smaller operators, including Cell C.
Icasa spokesman Paseke Maleka told Business Day a review of the call termination market was already underway and would hopefully be finalised in this financial year. — Sapa