Consumer Commission tackles high roaming fees

January 25, 2012 12:25 pm 0 comments

Share this Article

Author:

National Consumer commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala, has revealed that the commission has set its sights on tackling the high cost of international roaming for cellphone users.

Briefing the National Assembly’s Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee, Mohlala said the commission would seek the advice of experts around international roaming fees.

The commission says it  is currently looking into cellphone and internet service providers that provide pre-paid data but do not allow consumers to carry over unused data to the next month.

Several service providers had been sent letters warning them that this current practice was in breach of Section 63 of the Consumer Protection Act.

Mohlala said operator iBurst had already amended its agreements after it received the letter. She further said the commission had already held meetings with MTN, FNB Connect and G Connect and would meet with Vodacom and Cell C soon over the matter.

Roaming refers to the extension of connectivity service in a location that is different from the home location where the service was registered.

Among other future investigations, the commission states it  is also looking at running a nationwide inspection of businesses in rural areas and townships around those returns policies for goods, allowed for under the Consumer Protection Act.

According to the commission, since its launch in March last year it has has received 9 709 complaints to date and 4 506 requests for advice from consumers. In all, 4 124 complaints have been resolved, while the resolution rate is still at 42.5% of all cases, she maintained.

Mohlala said despite handling 8000 calls per month, 20 000 dropped calls – the commission still does not have a full call centre. She said each of the commission’s five call centre agents were expected to handle an expected 5000 calls per month.

Other challenges the commission faces include hiring and retaining skilled staff, a shortage of computers and the absence of a fully-fledged case management system. The commission recently recruited eight legal advisors and is considering whether to beef up its legal team further, as outside lawyers can cost up to R75 000 a day, said Mohala.

pf button big Consumer Commission tackles high roaming fees

Other News

  • Opinion

    Savvy SA schools SMS

    A Cape Town mom is more than a little displeased with her children’s primary school. During the recent heat wave in the Western Cape, the school cancelled athletics practice due to the extreme temperatures. The teachers went home and children, under the age of 13, had to wait alone outside the school in the heat until their parents picked them up at the time the sports practice was meant to end. The school had no way to alert the parents [...]

    Read more →
  • Opinion

    Contain mining costs by adopting cloud services

    Being agile in the face of unpredictable volatility will become even more important as pressure increases on mining companies to continue growing while reducing operating costs. A solution to reducing costs is based in cloud computing, which has become a topic of interest for a variety of industries, specifically in mining where, historically, the preference has been to own and run applications onsite. Cloud computing offers the mining sector the opportunity to consolidate multiple applications by hosting in highly virtualised [...]

    Read more →
  • Internet

    DOC successfully connects Tshwane college

    The Tshwane North College for Further Education and Training (TNC) broadband project, in partnership with the Department of Communications (DOC), has yielded positive results for teachers and students, says the college.   The Public Private Partnership saw the DOC provide internet connectivity to the college and its campuses through service provider, iBurst. Acting Principal at the college, Charles Pule, said that the TNC Broadband Project was formed  out of frustrations experienced by the TNC following its lack of ability to [...]

    Read more →
  • Opinion

    Cleaning up your applications portfolio

    One of the top five biggest business issues that many IT organisations wrestle with is trying to contain the size of the applications portfolio they are asked to manage. Many organisations simply fail to take a hard look at which applications can be retired and, as a result, the cost of the IT infrastructure needed to support all those applications spirals out of control. Here are some tips on how to rationally clean up the applications portfolio. Set an objective [...]

    Read more →
  • Opinion

    Creating a successful contact centre

    The quality of the consumer’s contact centre experience defines a significant portion of overall brand value – far more so now than was the case a few years ago. For most brands the defining contact centre challenge is to move away from a paradigm where customer service is a gritty and unpleasant coal face experience, and towards positive customer interactions that enhance brand value.  Achieving this shift requires a considerable amount of strategic planning and tactical effort. Decision makers embarking [...]

    Read more →
  • Mobile

    133% growth for FNB eWallet

    FNB’s eWallet has seen a 133% jump in growth in December 2011 - processing over  R140 million in money transfer transactions as compared to R60 million in December 2010. “Every festive season since its launch, eWallet has continued to show remarkable growth. Average daily transaction values have also increased to approximately double the figures we saw a year ago,” says Yolande van Wyk, CEO of FNB eWallet Solutions.   eWallet recently announced various enhancements to the eWallet functionality. Customers can [...]

    Read more →
  • Featured Internet

    National libraries get connected

    Vodacom has completed the implementation of Phase 1 of a libraries project for internet connectivity in the North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.

    The National Department of Arts and Culture multi-million rand project is managed and driven by the National Library of South Africa (NLSA) and is being implemented through partnerships with service providers and provincial libraries.

    When completed, almost 300 community libraries will be connected using VSAT and Vodacom ADSL services.

    “This project started when we were implementing the SITA/ NLSA open source Library Information Management System (LIMS),” says Lesiba Ledwaba, CIO National Library of South Africa and head of project.

    Read more →
  • Mobile

    Telkom searches for mobile unit MD

     Telkom has embarked on a recruitment process to appoint a MD for its mobile arm as it gears up to offer several new propositions. The MD will join 8ta, which was introduced in October last year and currently has a market share of  nearly 2%, and become an exco member of the Telkom Group. “It is of great importance that we keep the momentum going. In fact, delivery on our mobile investment features very high on the corporate agenda. It is [...]

    Read more →
  • Opinion

    SMS direct marketing contravenes CPA

    The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) allows sending unsolicited direct marketing communications (which is commonly seen as spam by many consumers) under certain conditions. However, if one looks more closely, it turns out that it is simply not possible to comply with these conditions with SMS communications. Before sending out direct marketing messages to a database of contacts, a company would have to ensure the following in terms of the CPA: Check if recipients have already opted-out from direct marketing messages [...]

    Read more →
  • Featured Mobile

    Consumer Commission tackles high roaming fees

    National Consumer commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala, has revealed that the commission has set its sights on tackling the high cost of international roaming for cellphone users.

    Briefing the National Assembly’s Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee, Mohlala said the commission would seek the advice of experts around international roaming fees.

    The commission says it is currently looking into cellphone and internet service providers that provide pre-paid data but do not allow consumers to carry over unused data to the next month.

    Read more →
Feedback

SA IT NEWS Feedback

We appreciate any and all feedback about our site; praise, ideas, bug reports you name it!

AUGUST / SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Engage in our latest issue of Saitnews Magazine titled Woman in IT Download Now