DATA REGULATION
Cell C's last-minute court bid puts new data-expiry rules on ice
Operators have at least two more weeks of breathing room - and possibly longer, if the court grants an extension
The Independent Communications Authority of SA’s (Icasa’s) new data expiry rules, which were meant to come into effect on Friday, have been placed on ice pending the outcome of a court ruling. Icasa refused a request by mobile operators that they be given another six months to prepare for the regulations, though Cell C has asked the courts for an extension. Icasa published the end-user and subscriber service charter regulations in early May and said operators would have to be compliant from Friday, June 8. That gave telecommunications companies a month to update their systems so that they could send notifications to consumers about data bundle use and let customers roll over unused data. Licensees would also no longer be allowed to charge out-of-bundle rates for data when it is depleted — unless they had consumers’ consent. Icasa declined an extension request from at least two mobile operators – including Cell C – "in the public interest", it said on Thursday. But Cell C filed an ur...
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