The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has withdrawn the number portability, carrier pre-select and supplementary facility leasing guidelines draft regulations it published in late July.
The draft regulations were an attempt to keep up with the gruelling pace of legislation and regulation necessary to meet the May 2002 deadline for the introduction of what will now be one Telkom competitor. But a change of heart by government and the subsequent change in policy directions have left the regulations without a mandate.
The draft regulations meant that customers would have been able to retain their telephone numbers, regardless of a change in location or service provider. Users would also have been able to pre-select any carrier for long-distance or international calls, regardless of whom they contracted for their primary connection, and customers would also have been able to change that selection on a call-by-call basis.
The revised policy directions, announced last week, will see both number portability and carrier pre-select postponed until at least 2005 in the interest of lessening competition in the interval.
An ICASA staff member says the delay in number portability may be a good thing from a regulatory point of view, as such mechanisms are complex. ICASA is now likely to spend some time on such regulations, instead of fast-tracking the process to meet deadlines.
Carrier pre-select faces similar difficulties without the unbundling of the local loop, the last mile wire connecting users to a local exchange. Government has indicated no willingness to unbundle, and the infrastructure will remain Telkom`s property.
The draft regulations were an attempt to pre-empt the legislative process, which will see Parliament pass an amendment to the Telecommunications Act in September. But the ICASA staff member says the body will now have to wait for that amendment before it can determine which other regulations are needed, and can do little in the meanwhile.
This is not the first time that customer-friendly measures have been scrapped under the apparent influence of incumbent pressure. Almost two-and-a-half years ago, then minister of post and telecommunications Jay Naidoo withdrew a draft amendment bill that would have introduced number portability to facilitate the entry of the third cellular operator. Naidoo at the time said there had been insufficient consultation with stakeholders, who had raised valid concerns, but MTN said it was fundamentally opposed to number portability and is known to have lobbied heavily against the bill.
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