TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG

– SOUTH African mobile network operators have been urged to reduce data prices by launching genuine wholesale service offerings and embrace the new National Integrated ICT Policy White Paper.

Experts said this would enable greater mobile broadband competition.

“The operators have a window of opportunity to open their networks by introducing real competition in their downstream markets,” said Dominic Cull, regulatory advisor to South Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA).

“A competitive wholesale mobile data model will help them avoid more unpalatable consequences.”

Government’s recently released National Integrated ICT Policy White Paper identifies open access and service-level competition as key drivers for South Africa’s digital future.

Cull said radical proposals around mobile broadband spectrum mean there is a clear time frame for incumbent mobile networks to embrace greater sharing and transparency.

ISPA has repeatedly called for the mobile network operators to take bold action to bring down the costs of mobile broadband by introducing competitive wholesale mobile data products, raising the matter again in recent Parliamentary hearings into the cost to communicate.

ISPA argued the absence of a wholesale mobile data offering constituted a lost business opportunity for mobile operators and an obstacle to deepening broadband penetration.

– Guardian