Mobile operators Cell C and MTN South Africa have reached an agreement with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) over the implementation of the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations.
The terms of the settlement set a new date of February 28, 2019, for the implementation of the regulations by mobile operators.
The May gazette of the regulations stipulated a one-month grace period for mobile operators to implement the new minimum standards for the provision of data, SMSes and voice services and data expiry and out-of-bundle services.
Shortly thereafter, Cell C secured a suspension of the June 8 deadline to procure a “reasonable timeline for implementation of the regulations”, requesting a six-month extension to comply.
The full implementation of the necessary, complex changes across the entire product suite, intensive development and numerous system changes, along with the rigorous testing required before Cell C can offer this to its customers, is likely to take at least six months, the telecoms company said at the time.
Icasa had initially refused the requested extensions in the interest of the public, with initial plans in place to defend the court application.
Now with certainty around the new effective date, Icasa CEO Willington Ngwepe noted that: “It would serve no purpose to proceed with the litigation under circumstances where the extension sought by operators has – through effluxion of time and delays in the court process – in effect been granted by default.”
“This is important as the regulations provide much needed relief to consumers by prescribing minimum standards of service in terms of which licensees are compelled to allow data roll-over, data transfer and most importantly to cease the automatic charging of out-of-bundle rates,” he concluded.