The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has called for written submissions for its carrier pre-selection draft regulations. Submissions are to be handed in by 9 January 2009, with oral hearings expected to take place on 21 and 22 January. The regulations proposed by ICASA follow the form of pre-selection that requires callers dial a code to select the carrier before placing their call, as opposed to the alternative form which allows consumers to select a carrier during the call.
ICASA spokesperson, Sekgoela Sekgoela, noted similar regulations in other countries usually only govern the fixed line operators, while ICASA’s draft regulations stipulate that all individual electronic communications network (IECN) services licensees will have to adhere to these regulations: mobile operators, the VANs providers and Telkom and Neotel.