MPs have taken the independent communications regulator, Icasa, to task for allegedly failing in its task to uphold consumer rights by improving the standard of service of South Africa’s three cellular operators.
National Assembly communications committee chairman Nat Kekana on Tuesday criticised the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), saying the excuse it was hampered by budgetary constraints was wearing thin.
The committee is holding public hearings in a bid to improve the standard of service of MTN, Vodacom and CellC.
”We expect Icasa, as an independent authority entrusted with the responsibility to regulate in the public interest, to answer certain questions… .
”We need a yearly consumer survey that is able to offer accurate, up-to-date information on the quality of service rendered, and the response of users of telecommunications services,” Kekana said.
Icasa should be responsible for carrying out the survey, even if this had to be ”outsourced”.
Kekana said Icasa had to show an effort ”in delivering on the expectations of consumers”.
”Once they (Icasa) do so, then they have a strong case to say they are overwhelmed and don’t have a big enough budget. They need to show an effort. They are not showing enough concern.
”What we require from Icasa is some minimum delivery. To simply receive a report from operators and say that is the standard of quality of service in the country is unacceptable.”
It was also not enough to say the regulator had only received one complaint, when the committee, through advertising its public hearings, had fielded more than 300 complaints by phone and received countless written ones, Kekana said.
”We cannot simply be held ransom by budget, budget, every time. It is completely unacceptable that every time we say the independent authority of South Africa is to perform certain functions, the question of money is thrown back at us,” he said during a briefing by Icasa councillor Mbulelo Ncetezo.
For over a year, the committee had asked for an indication from Icasa on what budget was needed to run its operation.
”To date, there is no clear answer to that question.”
There were 274 staff members at Icasa. ”What exactly are they doing?” Kekana asked.
It did not require an engineer to man a telephone and receive complaints from the public and the regulator, nor did it cost a lot to advertise in the media.
In its submission, Icasa said its consumer protection department had received one complaint about the quality of service of mobile operators. However, it had received several queries about dropped (lost) calls and how to get reconnected to the same number.
Icasa had also provided in its Medium Term Expenditure Framework report for 2003-2006 for a quality-of-service audit on the cellular operators’ networks in the next financial year.
Complaints received by the committee ranged from poor signal quality, dropped calls, high tariffs and shoddy customer service, as well as problems with blacklisting of stolen phones. – Sapa