Internet service provider MWeb has taken Telkom to court, demanding that a 6c/minute “transit” charge for calls carried from the telecommunications operator’s fixed-line network and onto its mobile network is in breach of an interconnection agreement signed between the parties in February 2007.

In papers filed at the high court in Pretoria, MWeb argues that it has tried to settle the dispute through negotiation with Telkom. It also lodged a complaint lodged at telecommunications regulator Icasa’s complaints and compliance committee in 2012. Although MWeb later withdrew the complaint to focus on trying to resolve the dispute directly with Telkom, it decided to turn to the courts after these talks broke down.

MWeb says Telkom Mobile does not have an operating licence that is separate to Telkom’s and that there is therefore no legal basis for a separate interconnection agreement. The court papers show that Telkom argues it needs to impose the transit fee because there are costs associated with transiting calls between its fixed-line network and the one operated by Telkom Mobile.

Although Telkom maintains it is entitled to recover the costs of transit between its fixed-line and mobile networks, MWeb says in court papers that there is “no legal basis for this contention” and that it is contrary to the interconnection agreement between the two companies as well as Icasa’s call termination and interconnection regulations.

MWeb argues that there is no basis for Telkom to require it to conclude a separate interconnection agreement with Telkom Mobile. It says it has similar agreements with MTN and Vodacom in terms of which both operators provide fixed and mobile call termination services in a single agreement and without any additional transit fees for the termination of mobile voice calls.

MWeb declines to comment on the case, telling TechCentral that it would “like to reserve comment at this stage as the matter is sub judice”.