ICASA to brief Parliament on cellphone rates

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Pretoria - The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) will today brief Parliament on measures that will be put in place to regulate mobile operator's termination rates.

Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications will be briefed by the authority on measures regarding cellphone termination rates in terms of the Electronic Communications Act.

The meeting between the two parties follows the public hearing that were held into the matter earlier this month.

The committee had raised concern about the current exorbitant cellphone rates charged by mobile operators and proposed that mobile companies cut their rates to 60 cents a minute by the end of the year.

South Africans are currently paying R1.25 per minute during peak times for their interconnection fee, a charge to enable calls to be transmitted from each other's networks.

The committee further wants operators to reduce their rates by 15 cents a year over the next three years.-