Cell C applauds ICASA’s termination rates decision

South African wireless operator Cell C has lauded the country’s telecoms watchdog ICASA’s decision to introduce aggressive asymmetry in wholesale call termination rates, effective 1 March 2014. The new rules favour smaller network operators, TechCentral reports. Robert Pasley, Cell C’s chief financial officer, has confirmed that the new level of asymmetry is even stronger than that which ICASA had proposed in a draft regulation published in 2013. The executive added: ‘As far as I am concerned, the draft regulations gave us a reasonable shot at becoming a sustainable competitor. This only increases our chances of being successful’. The regulator’s move is likely to provoke a backlash from market leaders Vodacom and MTN South Africa, although Pasley believes that they would not succeed in challenging the final decision in court, ‘because the underlying costs of termination are broadly in line with where ICASA is going. There are many pro-competitive and pro-public interest reasons that ICASA has come out with this regulation.’