by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) must swiftly finalise pro-consumer amendments to its End-User and Subscriber Service Charter (EUSSC) Regulations.
The call by the Internet Service Providers of SA (ISPA) comes at a time food and transport costs are on the rise.
ISPA believes if adopted, the amendments will provide welcome basic cost relief for consumers because they require telecommunications operators to rollover data bundles for a minimum of six months.
The EUSSC regulations were last amended in early 2019 to include a requirement for operators to provide for the roll-over of data, but only after strong opposition from some industry sectors.
“Voice and data are two sides of the same cost to communicate coin,” ISPA stated.
“There are great options to minimise voice spend, and now more work needs to be done on a better deal for South Africans using mobile data to interact with the world.”
ISPA noted the vast majority of South Africans relied on mobile data for all of their online needs and that is where regulatory intervention was required.
ISPA welcomed the latest move from ICASA, which is aligned with the outcomes of the Competition Commission’s Data Services Market Inquiry.
– CAJ News