The Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) on Thursday welcomed the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) public hearings aimed at regulating the subsidisation of cellphone handsets.
Icasa is of the view that consumers are sometimes forced to subscribe to certain services specific in the product offerings as part of the post-paid contract, even if the user may not wish to have access to such services.
These include itemised billing, caller line identity and handset insurance.
The union also objected to the fact that the handsets are not locally manufactured, arguing that the cellphone-equipment and handset firms should start considering building plants in South Africa.
This would also contribute towards the national agenda of job creation, CWU spokesperson Mfanafuthi Sithebe said.
In tandem with Cell C’s submission, the union noted that the mobile operators’ core business is to provide cellular telephony services, not equipment.
Addressing the Icasa panel chaired by Nadia Bulbulia, Cell C and MTN representatives said they support the removal of subsidies in contrast with Vodacom, which insisted that handset subsidisation should remain in place.
The country’s largest network, Vodacom ascribed the rapid surge of cellphone penetration — that has grown beyond 50% to date — to the practice of handset subsidisation.
In its presentation, the Competition Commission said Icasa should “compel the three network operators to offer — in addition to their present offerings — contracts without ‘free’ handsets at reduced prices”.
The CWU accused Vodacom, a Proudly South African group, of being unpatriotic and urged the market leader to change its tune and consider the anti-competitive landscape yielded by the subsidisation of contract subscribers.
Out of the 25-million cellphone users in South Africa, only four million use contract subsidised phones. However, this significant minority on average spends far more than twice what the more than 20-million — representing about 83% of the mobile base — spend on airtime.
Bulbulia said the regulator will now analyse the information furnished by various players, after which the committee will make a ruling on whether and how to start regulating the handset subsidisation. No time frames have been put in place but the ruling will be made this year, she said. — I-Net Bridge