Ellipsis » final regulations

Numbering Plan Regulations

dom — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 19:26:47 +0000

ICASA Numbering Plan Regulations (May 2006)

Geographic Number Portability (GNP)

dom — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:40:55 +0000

This page is intended as a dedicated resource for regulatory documents relating to Geographic Number Portability (GNP), which was fully implemented in South Africa on 26 April 2010. From this date it became possible to port a single number from one provider to another (previously only blocks of 1 000 or more numbers could be ported).

GNP allows consumers to switch fixed line service providers while retaining their fixed line (or geographic) telephone number. It is an important pro-competitive regulatory intervention in that it allows new entrants into the fixed line market – most obviously VoIP providers – to gain market share. Up until the introduction of GNP the inability of a consumer to retain their number(s) when changing providers constituted a major obstacle to taking advantage of better priced offers due to the associated costs and inconveniences of changing number(s).

Notice of GNP implementation date

ICASA GNP Consumer Guidelines April 2010

When you hear three (3) beeps while making a call, it means that the number you are calling is a ported number.

GNP Regulations 2007

Telkom GNP Consumer Guidelines

Neotel GNP resources

Inter-Operator Code of Practice on GNP Version 2.0

GNP Ordering Systems Specification 2010

Handset Subsidy Regulations – Implementation postponed

dom — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:43:56 +0000

ICASA recently released Handset Regulations governing primarily the relationship between cellular providers and their subscribers. The regulations were to come into force on 18 August 2008 but this date has been postponed after Vodacom indicated they would apply for an interdict preventing the implementation of the regulations – ICASA Media Release (ICASA website). Vodacom denied actually applying for the interdict and claimed they had not been properly consulted on new material inserted pursuant to the public participation process.

The views of the South African consumer were unfortunately not available at the time of writing this…

Download the Handset Subsidy Regulations 062008 (PDF)