Cell C case puts data rules on hold

The Independent Communications Authority of SA’s new data expiry rules, which were meant to come into effect on Friday, have been placed on ice pending the outcome of a court ruling.

The Independent Communications Authority of SA’s (Icasa’s) new data expiry rules, which were meant to come into effect on Friday, have been placed on ice pending the outcome of a court ruling.

Icasa refused a request by mobile operators that they be given another six months to prepare for the regulations, though Cell C has asked the courts for an extension.

Icasa published the end-user and subscriber service charter regulations in early May and said operators would have to be compliant from Friday (June 8).

That gave telecommunications companies a month to update their systems so that they could send notifications to consumers about data bundle use and let customers roll over unused data.

Licensees would also no longer be allowed to charge outof-bundle rates for data when it is depleted — unless they had consumers’ consent.

Icasa declined an extension request from at least two mobile operators – including Cell C – “in the public interest”, it said on Thursday.

But Cell C filed an urgent application at the High Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday to postpone the implementation of the rules. The court ruled on Thursday that other mobile operators had 10 days to submit answering affidavits, and that Cell C would have another five days to respond thereafter.

That means operators have at least two more weeks of breathing room before the high court makes a ruling.

Icasa was also barred from penalising companies for noncompliance until the matter was resolved in court.

The regulator said it would oppose Cell C’s application. It said an extension would subject consumers to unfair business practices for longer.