ICASA rules to close data expiry loopholes
ICASA defends its data bundle rollover and expiry regulations, saying it’s unhappy with continued customer complaints of bill shock.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has defended its updated data transfer regulations, which aim to prevent bill shock and ensure fair data usage. The updated End-user and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations will come into effect in January and govern data rollover, bundle depletion, and transfer of minutes and megabytes.
However, mobile network operators MTN and Vodacom have raised concerns and are seeking to review, set aside, and declare the rules invalid. ICASA councillor Dikeledi Cathrine Mushi briefed Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies about the amendment, which strips away previous conditions that allowed MNOs to control data rollover.
The new rules automatically rollover any unused bundles when data expires, set a default opt-in for additional charges, and introduce sequential bundle usage to avoid confusion about which bundle expires first. ICASA also introduced free bundle transfers between users on the same network, without requiring any action from the consumer.
Mushi explained that these changes were made based on market trends and consumer feedback, rather than legislative requirements. She emphasized that the regulations do not involve regulatory impact assessments and that MNOs have not provided sufficient evidence to support their concerns about technical feasibility or product differentiation erosion.
Written by urgent.news from ITWeb's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
