Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) chairman Paris Mashile has recommitted the regulator to promoting competition in the local telecoms sector, saying several investigations are being conducted to address the high mobile pricing in SA.
Addressing ITWeb`s Mobile & Wireless 2006 conference yesterday, Mashile said telecoms pricing had to be cost-based.
"What is most important is that competition must be effective. Regulation and licensing is not for its own sake, but to achieve a specific objective, such as bringing prices down."
In the cellular sector, he said, there are now three operators but still "no discernable decrease in price. We are concerned about that at ICASA. For all intents and purposes this is unacceptable."
Mashile said a number of investigations were under way to address the problem, including a study on the cost of service provision versus the price charged. Inter-connectivity pricing, set by ICASA, was also being studied. The price structure was last adjusted in 2001.
Mashile said he was not denying that some pricing and competition issues were long-standing and promised to "correct those wrongs".
He also recommitted ICASA to implementing mobile number portability (MNP) on 10 November. MNP will allow customers to keep their numbers when moving between networks or service providers when seeking better service or cheaper deals.
Addressing the merits of competition versus regulation, Mashile noted that "the best regulation is increased competition". He said regulation had to be used in a two-fold manner: firstly to encourage competition and secondly to intervene where there was no competition.
He outlined a vision of a well-funded, credible and trustworthy regulator that acted in a manner that was transparent and professional.
"Our vision is to transform SA into an information society and knowledge-based economy."
ICASA is in talks with the National Treasury over funding attractive salaries to overcome the authority`s dearth of skills. "ICASA is not at that level yet, but we are getting a sympathetic ear from government and treasury," Mashile said.
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