The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on Wednesday held a stakeholder meeting on the impending review of the pro-competitive conditions imposed on licensees in the 2014 mobile call termination rate and fixed call termination rate regulations.
The authority is conducting the review to determine whether to modify the conditions or maintain them as is, with relevant stakeholders having previously been requested to provide certain information through a questionnaire, which was released on January 30, by March 24, to enable Icasa to assess the current market structure.
Icasa is expected to publish its findings on the review by April 30, following which it will determine whether the market requires amendment, based on whether market failure still exists or if the market is effectively competitive in terms of Section 67 (4a) of the Electronics Communications Act.
Should the outcome of the review determine there is no market failure in the industry, the current regulations will continue until its expiration on September 30.
It is not clear whether Icasa will continue to enforce the existing regulations or develop updated call termination rates.
“Where, on the basis of a review, the authority determines that a licensee to whom any pro-competitive conditions apply is no longer a licensee possessing significant market power in that market or market segment, the authority must revoke the applicable pro-competitive conditions allied to that licensee by reference to the previous market determination based on earlier analysis,” Icasa’s presentation outlined.
However, should the licensee still possess “significant market power”, the pro-competitive conditions will be deemed no longer proportional and modification of thereof will be required.
The remedies will be dependent on the scale, extent and type of market failure.