ECN TELECOMS

Press Releases

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.

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 of R1,25 a minute they add to the cost of a cross-network call.

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.

South Africa's telecommunications costs are among the highest in the world. ECN is committed to strategy aimed at reducing telecommunications costs. The primary reason for such high telecommunications costs is interconnection charges – the charge levied to terminate a call on another network.

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) does not need a market study on interconnect to drop prices, says local telecommunications business ECN. Last month, the regulator released its latest draft regulations on the management of interconnect agreements.

Mobile incumbents have brushed off an industry outcry over high interconnect costs. However, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has agreed to look into the matter. Two weeks ago, Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille lodged a complaint at the Competition Commission, which lambasted the mobile operators for high interconnect costs.

Opposition to the high cost of making a cellphone call from one network to another is rising, with SA now being derided for falling behind Namibia in its prices. The lobby group SA Connect and Research ICT Africa are holding a seminar today to highlight how Namibia's regulatory authority has slashed the cost of cellphone calls, while SA's industry regulator has failed to act.

DESPITE a call by Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda for cheaper telephony, the industry regulator has issued new regulations that dash any hopes of lower calling fees. The overinflated cost of making a call from one cellular network to another will remain in place, with no reduction to the interconnection fee of R1,25 a minute.

The draft interconnect regulations, released by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on Wednesday, have failed to mention (never mind mandate) cost-based interconnect, something which industry players and analysts feel should've been at the core of the new regulations.

Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri's appeal against the August 29 Altech judgement is merely a thinly disguised attempt to protect the incumbent operators from competition...

Electronic Communications Network (ECN), a leading provider of converged voice and data solutions, has embarked on an aggressive campaign to compel all PABX vendors to unblock calls to numbers prefixed by '087'.

ECN, a leading provider of affordable and accessible converged voice and data solutions, today announced that it has been awarded a contract by BONDEV, property developers of Midrand Estates, one of the largest gated communities in South Africa, for the delivery of voice and data services.

ECN a leading provider of converged voice and data solutions, is the first electronic communications services provider in the market to establish bi-lateral interconnects with Telkom, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C.