New mobile data, voice, and SMS bundle rules for South Africa

Mobile data consumption in order of earliest expiry and compulsory mobile data rollovers up to three months after a bundle’s activation are among the new rules being proposed for South Africa’s cellular networks.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has published revised draft amendments to its End-user and Subscriber Service Charter Amendment (EUSSC) Regulations.

Icasa said the amendments aimed to strengthen consumer protection provisions within the charter, while striking a careful balance between the interests of consumers and the need for a dynamic and effective market for bundles of voice, SMS, data, and over-the-top (OTT) services.

“The proposed amendments are necessitated by numerous ongoing concerns raised by various stakeholders, including consumer groups, regarding the expiry rules for service bundles, high out-of-bundle rates and rules, and lack of clarity with regards to rollover and transfer provisions for voice, SMS, data and other types of bundles purchased by customers,” Icasa said.

The authority previously published proposed amendments to the rules in 2022, which included that all mobile data, voice, and SMS bundles have a minimum validity period of 6 months.

After inputs from stakeholders worried that the amendments would lead to reduced consumer choices, increased prices, and less competition in the short-term bundle market, Icasa revised its amendments.

Icasa committee chairperson Charley Lewis said the authority believed these revised regulations now struck the “appropriate regulatory balance”.

“The vibrant market for low-denomination, short-term bundles will be allowed to flourish,” Lewis said.

“On the other hand, consumers of longer-duration, larger-denomination bundles will not be unduly disadvantaged given the firm, clear guidelines we are proposing for the rollover or transfer of portions of what they have purchased in good faith.”

The main intentions of the revised amendments are aimed at the following;

• Treating all service bundles that customers may purchase in the same way, be they voice, SMS or data
• Ensuring that social media / OTT bundles are also treated similarly
• Providing staggered provisions for the automatic, partial rollover of unused portions of service bundles of 7 days or longer
• Giving certainty as to the full duration of very short bundles (eg 1 hour = 60 full minutes, 1 day = 24 full hours)
• Protecting the right of consumers to transfer bundles or bundle portions between SIM cards on the same network

Bundles must be depleted by earliest expiry

The first major proposal is that mobile networks deplete bundles in order of earliest expiry.

This proposal came about after stakeholders’ comments on the previous amendments pointed out that the first-in, first-out data consumption principle was not always beneficial for customers.

For example, a user who activated a weekly data bundle after their monthly mobile data bundle would first have to consume all their monthly data before the weekly bundle can be used.

With the revised consumption order, usage on the monthly bundle will stop until the weekly bundle is depleted.

Bundle rollover for medium-term and long-term bundles

The second significant change is that mobile networks must roll over a portion of unused bundles.

Icasa divided bundles into three main categories based on the length of their validity:

• Short-term bundle — Valid for less than 7 days from activation
• Medium-term bundle — Valid for 7–30 days from activation
• Long-term bundle — Valid for over 30 days

The revised amendments don’t make provision for the rollover of any unused data from short-term bundles, which offer the most affordable rates.

However, the rules propose that 50% of unused mobile data on medium-term bundles must roll over to the following equivalent validity period.

This must happen at least twice after the initial expiry date.

Therefore, a 10GB monthly data bundle with 5GB left by its expiration date should have at least 2.5GB carried over to the next month.

If 1GB of that bundle is left after the second month, 500MB will be carried over to the next month.

For long-term bundles, only 25% of unused data must be rolled over to the equivalent validity period, at least twice.

Icasa said the rollover of bundles must occur without requiring any action and without incurring any cost to the end-user.

Transferring data, voice minutes, and SMSs

The amendments also propose that mobile networks must allow consumers to transfer bundles or portions thereof to any other consumer on the same network.

The transferred resource must retain the same conditions as the original bundle, including those relating to expiry dates, bundle rollover and bundle transfer.

In addition, the transfer of bundles must not be limited to specific service types, except for uncapped, free or promotional bundles, and applies to any SIM card or device on the same network, including SIM cards or devices owned by the same consumer.

Networks should also not be allowed to limit the number of times that a user can transfer their data, voice minutes, or SMSs.

Validity period extensions due to lack of service

The validity period of a bundle must be extended when an end-user is unable to utilise the bundle due to a fault on the part of the network.

While Icasa does not define a “fault”, this would presumably mean a situation in which the network is offline or inaccessible due to no fault on the part of a user.

It is unclear whether this would include times when mobile network towers go down due to load-shedding or if this would not be regarded as a “fault” of the operator.

Other amendments include that networks must send users notifications via SMS, push notification, or any other applicable means when their consumption reaches 50%, 80%, and 100% depletion of each bundle.

Furthermore, mobile networks are not allowed to let users consume at out-of-bundle rates unless the user opts in.