Icasa Rules SA Mobile Users be Allowed to Carry Over Unused Data

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has announced four new regulations that deal with usage notifications, rollover of data, transfer of data and out of bundle billing.

This comes after concerns over the high cost of data in South Africa, in addition to the issue of the expiry of data bundles.

Icasa says the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations seek to protect the rights of consumers who have been unfairly treated by network providers. 

 “All licensees are required to send usage depletion notifications to consumers when their usage is at 50%, 80% and 100% depletion levels. This will enable consumers to monitor their usage and control spend on communication services.” 

Icasa also ruled that network providers are required to provide an option to consumers to rollover unused data, to ensure that they do not lose unused data as is the current practice. 

In addition, it also ruled that mobile companies are required to provide an option to consumers to transfer data to other users on the same network.

“All licensees are no longer allowed to charge consumers out-of-bundle rates for data when their data has run out without the consumers’ specific prior consent. This will ensure that consumers are not defaulted to out-of-bundle data charges, which are significantly higher than in-bundle charges.” 

The authority will publish the final Regulations in the government gazette in the next few days.