The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), MTN and Cell C have reached an agreement on the implementation of the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations.<\/p>\n
Originally scheduled to come into effect from June 2018, Icasa has confirmed that the regulations will now be implemented from 28 February 2019.<\/p>\n
The new regulations mean that South Africa’s mobile operators may now no longer automatically start billing subscribers out-of-bundle tariffs when their data bundles are depleted.<\/p>\n
Instead, they must present subscribers with the option to buy a new bundle, or agree to out-of-bundle billing \u2013 alongside usage depletion notifications (SMSes) as customers consume their data bundles.<\/p>\n
Icasa also proposed that users\u2019 mobile data must roll over if they do not deplete their bundles, and that consumers can transfer data to other subscribers on the same network.<\/p>\n
Cell C, MTN, Telkom, and Vodacom requested an extension for the implementation deadline of the new rules, as they said they needed more time to make the necessary technical changes.<\/p>\n
However, Icasa declined to grant the extension, stating it was not in the public\u2019s interest to do so.<\/p>\n