The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (“ICASA”) published a media statement on 15 November 2018 confirming that the matter between Cell C, ICASA and MTN SA was settled and the effective date of the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter Amendment Regulations of 2018 is 28 February 2019 as ordered by the South Gauteng High Court.
ICASA has since received a number of concerns from some licensees in respect of the implementation of the regulations. One-on-one meetings were held with some licensees from 16 to 22 January 2019 to provide clarity on the issues raised.
After due consideration of additional submissions and inputs received from licensees, ICASA has decided to make slight amendments to the Regulations in order to bring certainty and to ensure that the enforcement and implementation of the Regulations does not result in unintended consequences for licensees and consumers.
“The slight amendments referred to were necessitated by the need to facilitate implementation and compliance with the regulations. The essence of the issues that the Authority intends to address with the regulations namely, usage notifications, rollover of data, transfer of data, and out of bundle billing remain. Further, the mobile network operators still have an obligation to educate their consumers on the new regulations,” says ICASA Councillor, Botlenyana Mokhele.
The following amendments were made and will be published in the government gazette:
Usage notifications – licensees will be required to provide consumers with an option to opt-out of usage depletion notifications for voice, SMS and data services.
Out-of-bundle billing – licensees will be required to provide consumers with an option to opt-in or opt-out of out-of-bundle data billing.
Rollover of data – this provision remains unchanged.
Transfer of data – replaced the word network with electronic communications licensee to avoid confusion.
ALSO READ THIS INFORMATION FROM CELL-C:
Countdown to the rollout of new data regulations
South Africa has 10 days to go before the amended End User and Subscriber Services Charter (EUSSC) Regulations come into effect on 1 March 2019.
Cell C implemented the changes in the Final Regulations published in May before the end of 2018 and customers will have already experienced the benefits of the new enhanced notifications service, the additional rollover facility and data transfer. Additional requirements announced by ICASA on 12 February – 2 weeks before the deadline – are under review.
On 1 March the company will be turning on the feature that prevents customers from making use of the out-of-bundle (OOB) facility for data, unless they opt into OOB usage. This is the most significant change that will have the widest impact on mobile consumers.
Customers can opt-in or set limits to OOB spend by using Cell C’s Spend Control service, which allows customers to completely manage their OOB usage whether it be for data, voice or SMS. Customers can opt-in on the Cell C App or via USSD. If customers opt-in before the 1 March deadline, they will not be asked to do so again.
Customers who don’t opt-in by the deadline may find themselves in a situation where they don’t have access to any data once their data bundle runs out – even if airtime is available or they are on an open contract. The amount of airtime they can access or amount they can choose for OOB data usage on their contract is tied to the rand value they assign to their OOB data limit using Spend Control.
For example, if a customer sets an OOB limit to R100, they can use up to R100 to continue using data once their bundle runs out.
“It’s up to customers to determine how their cell phone spend will work, according to their budget and in order to avoid running out of data. However, customers will need to opt-in to get the benefits of the Spend Control function and to make sure they are never without data, SMSes or call time when they need it the most,” says Cell C Chief Customer Experience Officer, Michelle Beetar.
For additional information on how to activate any of the services linked with the regulatory changes, customers can go to the Cell C app, website or dial *147#.
