South Africa's comms bill could impact investment – MTN CEO

Telecommunications company MTN's Group CEO Ralph Mupita has slammed South Africa's Electronic Communications Amendment Bill, as he believes it discourages the private sector from investing in the economy.

Mupita raised these concerns during a recent media roundtable in Johannesburg following the release of the telco's interim financial results for the six months ended June 30, 2023.

Referring to the recently published bill, which aims to introduce significant amendments to the Electronic Communications Act (ECA), Mupita said if passed, the bill could harm the country's image as an investor-friendly emerging market.

If signed into law, the bill will make some significant changes to the country's communications industry.

It will empower the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to share spectrum licenses and enforce competition rulings, while also introducing regulations for mobile virtual networks in the country and forcing bigger operators to open to them.

The Electronic Communications Amendment Bill, if signed into law, will empower ICASA to share spectrum licenses and enforce competition rulings. ( Source: Image by jcomp on Freepik).

"Our perspective is that some of the requirements in the bill are very challenging for maintaining a positive investment climate in South Africa," he explained.

"Operators who have invested a lot of capital must open up their networks and be able to provide these to third parties," he said.

"From an investment client point of view, that is challenging as when you invested, your assumption was that your investment can give you a competitive advantage," he added.

Even though the bill hasn't yet been passed, Mupita believes it will be very challenging to navigate it.

Numbering regulations present a challenge

Furthermore, Mupita said ICASA's proposed Numbering Plan Regulations for mobile phone numbers is also a regulatory challenge.

The new regulation states that if a subscriber has not used their number in 30 days, they should be cut off and the number should be returned. Subscribers will then have ten more days to make a call or send a message to keep their number.

"If subscribers don't do that, their number will be deactivated and quarantined for a month before it can be given to someone else," he explained.

"This is another element of the regulatory environment that is making it more intense than it was in the past," Mupita continued.

Having said that, Mupita reiterated the telco's commitment to the country and insuring that its subscribers always remain connected.

"So over the next five years, you should see us putting in at least R50 billion (US$2.7 billion) pre-spectrum investment, but when spectrum comes along, well obviously you can never have enough spectrum," he concluded.

During the media roundtable, Mupita also refuted rumors that there were fresh merger talks between MTN and Telkom South Africa.

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*Top image is of Ralph Mupita, MTN Group President and CEO. (Source: MTN Group).

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa