/ 13 May 2009

Cellphone companies meet Icasa over complaints

Cellphone companies were meeting the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) council on Wednesday to discuss consumer complaints about technical problems, the authority’s spokesperson said.

Sekgoela Sekgoela said representatives of Cell C, Vodacom and MTN would be present to answer to complaints of dropped calls and delayed SMSs.

”The meeting is to get them to explain the root cause of the problem,” said Sekgoela.

They had received numerous complaints from consumers on the matter.

”Our mandate is to promote and protect consumer interests. If they are getting a raw deal, we will be concerned.”

Apart from complaints between friends and family, the most recent illustration of the problem caused a rumpus when the talent contest Idols had to redeclare its winner after it emerged that many of the SMS votes had been delayed. — Sapa