The Communications Users Association of South Africa"s (Cuasa"s) Ray Webber says that the organization welcomes the long-awaited publication of Number Portability regulations.
However, he warns that the evident lack of user consultation and various other issues are cause for concern.
"Number Portability regulations which were promulgated and published in the Government Gazette earlier this month will form the framework for a critically important component of effective competition," says Webber.
"Users who currently wish to switch mobile networks face a daunting task of notifying their contacts of their new telephone details. The result is that most users simply do not change their network, even if another provider offers significant price or service advantages.
"Cost-effective and reliable number portability would enable users to easily switch networks, forcing providers to concentrate on more competitive pricing and services," he adds.
In addition, once the SNO begins to operate, number portability should, in theory, significantly increase its chances of market success.
Webber says Cuasa is pleased that the industry finally has a decision with regard to Number Portability regulations which should pave the way for, and set in place strict dates by which, the porting of numbers will become available to users.
"Although we now understand that a draft Functional Specification was published for comment on 6 December last year, Cuasa was not specifically approached to provide comment. We are interested to discover which other user organizations, if any, were consulted on this matter.
"If no user organizations gave input to the now promulgated MNP Functional Specification, then SA users have essentially been sidelined from the process, leaving government and service providers as the only real contributors," says Webber.
"Bearing this possible lack of user consultation in mind, we find it interesting that prepaid Telkom customers appear to have been excluded from the definition of "subscriber" in terms of the new regulations.
"We hope that this does not mean that these users, who are often those with the least financial means, are excluded from the benefits of competition arising from number portability," he adds.
"It is also interesting to note that the definition of a "service provider" now includes network operators and an entity or person who purchases network services from a network operator and resells such services to subscribers.
"We question if that means that the owner of a local shop who resells air time is now automatically a service provider in terms the regulatory definition," he says.
Webber says Cuasa further notes that network operators must prepare an ordering system specification for number portability to be lodged with Icasa by the end of this month, and that this is to be carried out in consultation with interested parties, including user organizations.
"We urge the operators to move with haste to schedule the meetings with regard to this and to ensure that all interested parties and organizations are invited in reasonable time," says Webber.
"Cuasa welcomes restrictions which have been placed on SA"s mobile network operators, which are intended to prevent anti-competitive and discriminatory behavior in all aspects of the implementation of number portability," says Webber.
"Cuasa is, however, concerned with regard to the possible user costs associated with number portability. It is vital that the costs are determined and lodged with Icasa as soon as possible, and that they are discussed with all interested parties and user organizations.
"In this regard, we urge Icasa to set dates by which this should be done, so as to ensure that possible excuses for maintaining high mobile call charges are eliminated," he concludes.