Unintended consequences spark panic

By trying to remedy the ills of the cellphone networks, the End-User 2nd Subscriber Service Charter Amendment Regulations have created problems for other, unsuspecting service providers.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has done so by “applying a broad-strokes approach to a narrow problem”, said Dominic Cull, the Internet Service Provider’s Association regulatory advisor.

“Outside of mobile networks, there is a degree of panic,” he said. Compliance would be expensive and take time, and there was little value in doing it, he said.

For example, the amendments require that it must be made possible for data to be transferred between users of the same network. It was no problem for cellphone operators because their users have the same service provider.

But the regulation applies to others, such as internet service providers, which is complex.

Two end-users might both access the internet through the Vumatel network but one could be with MWeb and the other with Afrihost, Cull said.

One of the amendments concerns consumer education and awareness, which specifically requires licensees to have campaigns to educate end-users on the use of smartphones. Icasa clearly had mobile networks in mind, but internet service providers would also have to comply with it, said Cull. —