South Africa’s telecoms regulator ICASA wants to cut the fees telcos charge each other to carry calls between their networks. ICASA says these charges should be cut by 50 per cent.

ICASA’s notice published in the Government Gazette on March 22nd that it wants mobile termination rates slashed from 9c/minute today (13c for smaller operators) to 7c (9c) on July 1st 2024 and 4c (4c) on July 1st 2025. The rates have been coming down for the past decade, from an historic high of Rand 1.25/minute.

But the planned cuts go much further. The fixed-line termination charge should drop from the current 6 cents per minute to 4c from July 1st, and to just 1c from July 1st 2025, a cut of 83 per cent.

“These draft rates emanate from an intensive cost-modelling process involving the development of an iterative, multi-input, bottom-up cost model, accompanied by extensive engagement with the main voice operators,” ICASA stated.

Operators have a month to respond.

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Categories: Articles, Telco

Tags: icasa, south africa, telco