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You have until 18th Feb to tell Icasa about your mobile data experience

Last year the Competition Commission and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) launched initiatives to lower the cost of communication in South Africa.

Late last year the Competition Commission said that following its Data Services Market Inquiry, it found that data costs were too high and Vodacom and MTN were largely to blame.

Earlier in 2019 – March to be precise – Icasa implemented new regulations which required providers to scrap automatic out-of-bundle data charges and allow customers to roll-over unused data.

Icasa is currently assessing the success of these rules and it needs your help to make sure they are being adhered to.

“The outcome of this impact assessment would assist the Authority to better understand whether the amendment Regulations achieved the Authority’s expectations with regard to, among others, the voluntary reduction in out-of-bundle rates, changes in unfair business rules relating to data expiry rules, rollover of unused data, etc,” said Icasa.

To that end, if you use a mobile data connection you will want to head over to the Icasa website and complete a questionaire relating to the End User And Subscriber Service Charter Regulations.

The questionaire is a text document you will need to download (you use the free, open source alternative to Microsoft Office, Libre Office, if you don’t have an office suite) and it’s rather lengthy so put some time aside to complete it.

Be sure to only complete the sections with the sub-heading “End-users”. There are quite a few sections to fill in and some questions require you motivate your answer.

Once complete you should email your completed questionaire to Leweng Mphahlele at lmphahlele@icasa.org.za as per this notice.

Submissions close at 16:00 on 18th February and if you have not been receiving data depletion messages or are still being charged out-of-bundle rates despite opting out of the charges, it’s best to let Icasa know.

In addition to this questionaire, Icasa is also investigating the levels of competition in the sector according to the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA).

“Icasa is also investigating levels of competition in the mobile data market and is proposing to intervene to ensure that new entrants have better access to high sites and that dominant operators are required to enter into localised roaming agreements. This process is only likely to have an impact in 2021,” the association said in a statement.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]

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