In my opinion, interconnect rates should be zero cents. Accepting traffic from another operator means one already has capacity to receive, transport and terminate it. Otherwise do not accept it in the first it and rather expand yuour network first.

But I guess it is not as easy as this.

Vodacom and MTN had lots of time to review the cost and bring to down to resonable profit. But ya, theres no thing as resonable profit in the SA telecoms industry.

Isn’t retrospect a wonderful thing. However, you have yourself personally profited very nicely from a regime that you now criticize at such an “arms length”.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

I understand that accurately determining the fair cost of delivering a call is not trivial – any telecoms product manager will attest to that. There are a myriad of technology cost, network topology and convergent product issues to contend with to start with. I cannot believe though that there are not sufficiently smart financial minds in the MNOs to have come up with some near-as-dammit figures?

It has obviously not been in the interest of the MNOs to do anything about it. And quite frankly, when one considers the premiums charged for SMSs (never seen as a potential revenue stream to begin with and now as high as 15% of total revenue in some cases?) and roaming (so easy to fleece someone else’s customer!) one has to be skeptical that interconnect rates as proposed and defended by MNOs are anywhere near what they should be.

With the lion’s share of the national customer base the MNOs have the clout to raise the barrier to entry for new players whose potential customers need to call… ah yes, the MNO’s customers!

Your comment about efficiency is very valid – there is not enough incentivising ALL the players to become more efficient. And we still sit with mobile rates where it can be more expensive to call your wife on her mobile than to call your brother in “exile” across the globe.

I think some significant drops in interconnect rates over the next few years would be just one of a number of steps to making telecoms less of a burden and more of an economic catalyst in our economy.

Good to see some new voices writing for Techcentral -look forward to more insights from you.

No idea of costs after 115 years? Sounds spot on.

Thanks, looking forward to more from TechCentral of this quality.