telkom urges icasa to scrap call termination fees completely

Telkom Urges Icasa To Scrap Call Termination Fees Completely

Icasa this week gazetted final call termination rate regulations for the next three years, which will see the rates continue their more than decade-long downward trend from an historic high of R1.25/minute.

Telkom said it welcomed Icasa's decision to cut the rates in a more gradual fashion than it had proposed earlier this year, and lauded the regulator for narrowing the gap between fixed and mobile rates over the next two years.

"Overall, we believe Icasa has struck a reasonable balance between enabling effective competition for smaller players and new entrants while helping to create a sustainable and competitive telecoms sector in South Africa. These changes to the regulations support Telkom's data-led strategy and are positive for market growth in the telecoms sector," said Telkom.

"The extension of the phased-in implementation of the glide path, from two to three years, aligns with historical approaches to call termination rate reviews and provides for a more measured transition period, it said.

"Popia the Protection of Personal Information Act has done nothing to deal with spam calls, and if spam calls really get out of control, then people might stop answering calls altogether," said Potgieter.