The battle between MTN and Telkom over interconnection fees has been postponed to Saturday. The hearing called by the Independent Communications Authority of SA’s complaints and compliance committee was thrown into dissaray this morning when the two companies’ legal teams butted heads over an affidavit submitted by MTN.
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The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) will swear-in three new councillors on Friday. Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng will officiate over the swearing-in of Ntombizodwa Ndhlovu, William Currie and Joseph Lebooa at Icasa’s Sandton offices. The nominated candidates will replace three councillors whose terms are ending. The departing councillors are Brenda Ntombela, Robert Nkuna and Jacobus van Rooyen.
MTN and Telkom, which recently signed a cellular roaming agreement, are facing off in a dispute over wholesale mobile termination rates. Telkom, which is due to launch its own mobile network within the next couple of months, wants to charge MTN — and presumably other operators — 93c/minute to carry calls onto its new network.
Telkom and MTN are set to face off at the Independent Communications Authority of SA’s complaints and compliance committee on Thursday over a dispute of interconnection fees, the money they charge each other to carry calls between their networks. Authority spokesman Paseka Maleka Telkom lodged a complaint against MTN at the end of June. It appears the two companies are having trouble negotiating the terms of an interconnection agreement.
Sentech is dysfunctional. That’s the gloomy picture painted by the state-owned company’s board in a presentation it was meant to give to parliament last week. But the company was prevented from delivering the presentation, entitled “Strategic Plan 2010 – 2011” because it failed to supply supporting documentation, needed by members of parliament ahead of time, before the scheduled meeting.
It’s long been government’s desire to bridge the digital divide, to get communications technology in the hands of the rural poor. But its every attempt to address the problem has failed. Now commercial operators may achieve what government couldn’t. The late Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, the former communications minister, had her heart in the right place. She genuinely wanted people in underserviced areas to get access to the latest communications technology.
Uncertainty in SA’s telecommunications industry has played havoc with product and network planning, says research firm BMI-TechKnowledge (BMI-T). BMI-T director Brian Neilson says mobile termination rates and the regulatory environment have been the primary drivers of uncertainty in the market.
MTN SA appears to have put the worst of its troubles, including its damaging billing-system problems, behind it and has gained market share in the past six months on the back of a jump in prepaid subscribers. Data revenues have leapt higher as demand for broadband Internet access continues to grow and the group has revised its full-year SA subscriber expectations sharply upwards on the back of a strong first-half performance.
A plan by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to cut wholesale call termination rates may be delayed until next year, parties close to the process say. The rates, which were supposed to be cut last month as a first step on a two-year glide path down, are the fees the operators charge each other to carry calls onto their networks.
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has received a written assurance from pay-TV licensee Super 5 Media that it is still in operation. “We received a communiqué from Super 5 Media a week before last clarifying its position in relation to recent press reports,” says Icasa spokesman, Paseka Maleka.