ICASA Makes Amendments to the EUSSC Regulations

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has published a set of amendments to the End-user and Subscriber Service Charter (“EUSSC”) Regulations, Gazette No 39898 of 2016. The amendments add new Quality of Service parameters for electronic communication services and adjust some existing ones.

These changes are necessary for improving the quality of service and for the Authority to continue monitoring and enforcing compliance with customer care standards.

Amendments with regards to the complex rules governing data expiry and data transfers will be subject to a further round of consultations with stakeholders, to give consideration to the views raised by stakeholders contrary to the proposed amendments.

We have decided to proceed for now with updating the Quality of Service component of the existing regulations. This is partly because the Quality of Service updates have proven far less controversial, and partly because they are urgently needed to protect the rights of consumers in an increasingly online digital market. We do, however, intend to proceed with updating the rules governing the expiry and rollover of data, voice and SMS bundles in a way that protects both the rights of consumers and the functioning of the dynamic market in this space.

Dr Charley Lewis, Committee Chairperson