Bewilderment. That’s the word that best described the look on the faces of mobile communications industry executives crammed into a courtroom on the 11th floor of the high court in downtown Johannesburg on Monday afternoon as they listened to judge Haseena Mayat hand down her decision in a key industry battle
Tata Communications’ plan to sell its stake in its South African subsidiary Neotel to Vodacom is being held up as communications regulator Icasa mulls whether or not to allow the transfer of radio frequency spectrum to the mobile operator. That’s according a report in The Economic Times on Monday. The Indian newspaper, quoting
The high court in Johannesburg on Monday found that communications regulator Icasa’s 2014 call termination regulations were “invalid and unlawful” but said the cuts to termination rates will take effect as planned on 1 April for a period of six months. Judge Haseena Mayat granted a final order in favour of MTN and Vodacom, but used her
Communications regulator Icasa’s 2014 call termination rates are “invalid and unlawful” but the cuts to the rates will take effect as planned on 1 April for a period of six months, high court judge Haseena Mayat ruled on Monday. Mayat said she was exercising her
Recent events are evidence of unprecedented pressure on mobile network operators to lower their prices. Yet a sober analysis reveals that the networks are really their own worst enemies, and can turn their fortunes around by simply lowering prices. The latest proposed cuts in the mobile termination (interconnection) rates are the most
Vodacom intends tabling an offer of US$460m (about R5bn) to buy Neotel, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. The newspaper, quoting an unnamed executive at India’s Tata Communications, Neotel’s holding company, said that Vodacom, which is a subsidiary of the UK’s Vodafone, will also take on Neotel’s
A lack of regulation in the mobile network market would likely harm consumers, the high court in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday. Kate Hoffmeyer, for Cell C, argued that if MTN and Vodacom were granted interim relief through the court suspending Icasa’s 2014 regulations, this would result in the market being
MTN and Vodacom should have disclosed their costs for calls to other networks, the high court in Johannesburg heard on Wednesday. David Unterhalter SC, for communications regulator Icasa, argued that the companies would not reveal these costs to Icasa when
New call rates between cellphone networks aimed at stimulating competition resulted from a “half-baked experiment”, the high court in Johannesburg heard on Tuesday. Frank Snyckers SC, for Vodacom, argued that communications regulator Icasa’s 2014 regulations for call rates, set to be introduced next month, should have taken into account the structural
Cellphone network operators MTN and Vodacom took their fight against the introduction of new call termination rates to the high court in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has conceded there are problems with its proposed model for mobile termination rates. These are the
