Press release: ISPA Welcomes Competition Boost, Calls on Mobile Operators to Offer Wholesale APN Product

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The Internet Service Providers’ Association of SA (ISPA) has welcomed Cell C`s reduced and transparent pricing plans as clear indications of how competition benefits South African consumers while simultaneously calling on all mobile operators to take further pro-competitive steps and provide a wholesale APN product.

“Cell C’s actions in effecting significant voice call reductions across both prepaid and contract subscribers and, in particular, the shift to an easily-understood pricing structure can only be described as innovative given the history of the mobile services sector in South Africa,” said Jaap Scholten, co-Chair of ISPA. Cell C has decided to compete on price and honesty as opposed to marketing.

ISPA believes that the clear benefits offered to consumers by Cell C’s new strategy make the case for introducing further competition into the mobile data market.

A number of ISPA’s members have been at the forefront of service innovation and price reductions in the fixed line ADSL market – with Cell C showing what a little bit of real competition can do we believe that it is time to move to open up the provision of mobile data services to the kind of competition which characterises the ADSL market.

ISPA has made submissions to the Minister of Communications emphasising that making the mobile data market competitive will help to address the affordability gap preventing many South Africans from accessing broadband services through their mobile handsets, deepening broadband penetration in the short to medium term.

Further Information

For further information, please contact the ISPA secretariat on the Contact ISPA page.