An argument over whether SA’s telecommunications regulator has jurisdiction to rule in a dispute between Telkom and Vodacom, MTN and Cell C over interconnection fees, could spell bad news for the traditionally fixed-line operator.
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The cash-strapped state-owned signal distributor, Sentech, appears to have cut an illegal deal to sell wireless broadband spectrum that benefited politically connected businessmen, led by Eddie Funde, the controversial former chairman of the SABC who is now South Africa’s ambassador to Germany.
Former director-general of the department of communications Mamodupi Mohlala says she is eager to get started in her new position as head of the new National Consumer Commission. Trade & industry minister Rob Davies announced Mohlala
The long-awaited regulations that will determine wholesale call termination rates in SA are ready and will be published next Friday. That’s the word from Icasa spokesman Jubie Matlou, who says he is not in a position to provide details of any planned
Sentech unlawfully allowed Screamer, a wireless Internet access provider, to use the state-owned company’s spectrum to provide services, its chairman, Quraysh Patel, has alleged. And Patel has asked the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa)
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.
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.