All I want for Xmas is an effective regulator

I was amazed to read about the impact the GSM price war is having in the USA.

"Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the two largest US mobile operators, slashed their rates on Friday, reflecting the impact of an accelerating price war among US mobile operators." Reference:- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b5836f1e-0201-11df-8b56-00144feabdc0.html?

In South Africa we can only dream of a GSM price war. Maybe saturation in the marketplace will give us that opportunity. But I am not sure at what point that will happen. Clearly the GSM networks don't believe that saturation is coming anytime soon, nor do they believe that a competitive edge is required through superior customer service. If you read the blogs, Twitter and newspapers, the volumes of complaints around customer service levels at MTN and Vodacom [and associated service providers} is unprecedented.

Maybe the new leadership at ICASA has the determination to open up the market by doing the simplest of actions – by removing the punitive interconnect structure and replacing it with a fair and equitable system. Let’s have no more hype about GSM price cuts by December. How about Icasa finally comes to recognises our pain, understands what causes it and sets out a solution to fix it.

We live in hope.

Peter Walsh
JHB
19th Jan 2010