ID President Patricia de Lille has slammed mobile phone operators MTN, Vodacom and Cell C for being ‘arrogant and unreliable' and for ‘snubbing the country.'

The ID Leader's comments come after the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) turned down a proposed voluntary reduction in interconnection rates received from the three operators on Monday 25 January.

‘Their proposed reduction of peak-time rates from R1.25 to 89c a minute in March 2010, 85c a minute in October 2011 and 80c a minute in October 2012 are as pathetic as they are insulting to Parliament and the people of South Africa,' Ms De Lille says.

The offer received by Icasa from MTN, Vodacom and Cell C also proposed that the current 77c rate for the off peak interconnection rate remain the same until 2013.

Operators set condition

In addition, the operators made the implementation of their proposal subject to the condition that Icasa made an undertaking that it would not review mobile termination rates until 1 March 2013.

"For this reason, the Authority has decided not to review the interconnection amendment agreements as submitted," says Icasa's responding statement.

‘When their CEOs appeared before our Communication Portfolio Committee in Parliament there was no talk of conditions,' says De Lille.

‘They have got no right to set conditions for the regulator. The ID supports Icasa's rejection of the operators' pathetic glide path and their conditions.'

Background of De Lille's campaign

The ID Leader's campaign to bring down exorbitant telecommunications costs began in July last year, when she lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission calling on it to investigate, ‘in terms of the Act ...whether the operators, particularly the dominant players, are acting anti-competitively or are guilty of any prohibited practices.

"I believe that South Africans have long suffered poor competition and exorbitant telecommunications costs unnecessarily and that it is vitally important that this be investigated by the Competition Commission urgently. Our economy and all South Africans, but especially the poor, are affected by this," her letter stated.

De Lille wants immediate reduction to 60c a minute

‘I am getting sick and tired of these mobile phone operators playing games at the expense of ordinary South Africans and especially the poor,' De Lille says.

‘The fact that MTN has agreed to sizeable reductions in the rates in the Nigerian market but cannot do the same here shows just how unpatriotic and opportunistic these operators can be.

‘I think the time has arrived for us to seriously start talking about an immediate reduction of the interconnection rate to 60c a minute during off peak and peak-times,' says De Lille.