The Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa) has come out in support of an MWeb high court application against Telkom at the high court in Pretoria over the telecommunications operator’s imposition of a “transit fee” on the Internet service provider.

TechCentral revealed last week that MWeb has taken the operator to court, alleging that the 6c/minute (excluding VAT) transit charge for calls carried from Telkom’s fixed-line network and onto its mobile network is in breach of an interconnection agreement signed between the parties in February 2007.

MWeb argues that Telkom Mobile does not have an operating licence that is separate to Telkom’s and that there is therefore no legal basis for a separate interconnection agreement. The court papers show that Telkom argues it needs to impose the transit fee because there are costs associated with transiting calls between its fixed-line network and the one operated by Telkom Mobile.

Although Telkom maintains it is entitled to recover the costs of transit between its fixed-line and mobile networks, MWeb says in the court papers that there is “no legal basis for this contention” and that it is contrary to the interconnection agreement between the two companies as well as Icasa’s call termination and interconnection regulations.

Now Ispa has said it supports the court action initiated by MWeb, which is one of its members. Telkom is not a member of the association.

“We believe the law on the matter to be clear: Telkom’s fixed and mobile networks, although marketed under different brands, are operated under the same pair of service licences. In charging this so-called ‘transit fee’, Telkom is effectively arguing that it is interconnecting with itself. That is legally illogical,” says Ispa co-chair Marc Furman in a statement.

“It appears that Telkom has taken a decision to have separate networks operating under a single licence. While this may lead to internal costs, such costs are a result of their strategic decision and cannot be passed on to third-party interconnect partners, particularly where to do so means termination to Telkom Mobile is above the maximum rate set out in the call termination regulations of 2010,” says Furman. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media