Year: 2016

There may, finally, be relief for businesses and individual consumers from costly cellphone bills after advocate Gilbert Marcus’s legal opinion that the industry regulator, Icasa, has the right to force down the fees. Vodacom and MTN hiked the cost of switching a call from one network to another from 20c a minute to R1,25, a […]

CELLULAR operators have responded with caution to a new legal finding that may pave the way to a huge cut in the cost of phone calls. Although their comments are guarded, it seems likely they will take legal action of their own if the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) tries to cut the fee […]

ECN attended the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications (PPCC) meeting on interconnection rates and was very impressed by the political will of Parliament to urgently deal with the issue of interconnection rates charged by Vodcaom, MTN and Cell C that are amongst the highest in the world. It is clear that high interconnection rates serve […]

SA consumers, used to high prices for telecommunications, must be rubbing their hands in glee. The cost of broadband and voice telephony has begun falling, in some cases dramatically, as competition finally begins to take effect. At the weekend, cellphone giant Vodacom announced it was effectively cutting its peak-time prepaid rates by as much as […]

Studies show that cellular interconnection costs closer to 25c than the current 89c/77c per minute. Peak Mobile Termination Rates (MTR) – aka interconnect rates – were dropped from the previous R1.25 per minute to 89c per minute in March after an agreement was reached between the cellular operators and ICASA. This interconnect rate cut resulted […]

Another hurdle to decent telecoms competition and consumer choice has fallen, with the implementation of individual geographic number portability (GNP) starting in earnest on Monday. After almost five years, fixed-line home phone users can now switch providers, while keeping their numbers. “Geographic number portability is a tool to promote consumer choice in the market,” said […]

Itec, a leading provider of telecom and office automation solutions, has partnered with iConnect Telecommunications and ECN Telecoms to offer its customers a set of Internet Protocol telephony (IP) solutions that can help them drive down their telecom costs by up to 30%. The company adds these IP telephony solutions to a telecom product portfolio […]

In a bid to prevent a dramatic termination rate cut, mobile operators have said recently drafted mobile termination regulations are outside of the law. Public hearings on the regulations are expected to begin next week, with almost all industry players taking a spot to discuss the value of the regulations at the Independent Communications Authority […]

Electronics and electrical engineering company, Reunert, today announced that it is has acquired the business of ECN Telecommunications (Pty) Ltd (“ECN”) for an undisclosed purchase price. The transaction is subject to approval by the South African Competition Authorities. ECN’s existing portfolio of IP based telecommunications services will add converged voice and data capabilities to Reunert […]

RLO RLO – Reunert Limited – Voluntary announcement: Competition authorities approve Reunert’s purchase of ECN Telecommunications REUNERT LIMITED (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) Registration Number: 1913/004355/06 ISIN: ZAE000057428 JSE Code: RLO (“Reunert”) VOLUNTARY ANNOUNCEMENT: COMPETITION AUTHORITIES APPROVE REUNERT’S PURCHASE OF ECN TELECOMMUNICATIONS Electronics and electrical engineering company, Reunert, confirmed that the South African […]