Drastic call termination cuts announced

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) announced the new regulated rates for call termination on Wednesday, 29 January 2014.

While Icasa’s new rates are not as aggressive as those it proposed in October 2013, it does still give smaller operators such as Cell C and Telkom Mobile a higher rate.

The level of asymmetry in the rates between large and small operators Icasa proposed previously caused a big stir last year, with large operators decrying it and small operators applauding it.

A termination rate is the money networks pay to each other for connecting a call. MTRs have declined from R1.25 in 2009 to a current price of 40 cents.

Both MTN and Vodacom have warned against the implications of MTRs, with MTN saying it may have to look for ways to cut costs within its business.

“There’s a very real chance that if the fees go through the way they are at the moment, we’ll have to take a significant knife to costs,” the yellow network said.

The table below summarises the call termination rates that are set to kick in on 1 March every year until 2017:

WON: Within Networks | BON: Between Networks

More on call termination rates

New call termination rates coming

MTR cuts would cost us R1 billion: MTN

Vodacom bemoans asymmetry plans