Page 144 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

The government of Mozambique has launched a rural Comunicacoes de Mocambique, INCM, also known as
connectivity project which will bring internet access to ARECOM). Minister of Transport and Communications
27 unserved districts. The project, to be implemented Janfar Abdulai commented: ‘We are working to
through the creation of ‘digital squares’, is funded by guarantee that every municipality of Mozambique
Mozambique the Universal Access Service Fund (Fundo do Servico will have at least one digital square by the end of this
de Acesso Universal, FSAU), affiliated to the National
five-year period.’ 73 digital squares have already been
Communications Institute (Instituto Nacional de deployed under the FSAU. (September 7, 2020) commsupdate.com

New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has released a information with competitors and comparison services
paper detailing its proposed high-level approach and to help inform their decisions.
process for determining the information disclosure and (September 21, 2020) commsupdate.com
price-quality regulations that will be applied to fiber
New Zealand access services providers Chorus, Enable Networks, The New Zealand Commerce Commission (ComCom)
Northpower and UltraFast Fiber from 1 January called on the country’s three mobile network operators
2022. The price-quality and information disclosure to make it easier for customers to compare price plans
regulations will give effect to and build on the input to avoid overspending, prompting them to catch up
methodologies for fiber services, such as how the with sectors like electricity by offering comparison
Commission must calculate the cost of capital, which websites. It called for Spark, Vodafone New Zealand
are due to be finalized by late 2020. ‘The purpose of and 2degrees to “guard against overspending” after a
this paper is to set out our early thinking on how we review of nearly 80,000 consumer bills found a quarter
approach the major aspects the new regulations of post-paid customers could save an average of
will cover. This includes the type of information NZD11.60 ($7.77) a month by switching to a lower-
providers should publicly disclose and how we would price plan without amending their usage. The review
set the amount of revenue Chorus can recover and also found 64 per cent of consumers didn’t change
the quality standards it must meet,’ commented their mobile plan over a 12-month period, while 7 per
Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson. cent “spent a relatively high amount” on services “given
Interested parties can submit their comments and their usage” and could save an average of NZD48.65
opinions by 14 October. In other news, the Commerce a month. “Our work suggests that some consumers
Commission has urged New Zealand’s three mobile are significantly overspending on their mobile
network operators – Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees – plans due to transparency and inertia problems”,
to provide more meaningful comparison information Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson
and guard against overspending by customers. A study said. “We expect the operators to address these
of nearly 80,000 consumer mobile bills conducted by issues by increasing the usage information available
the regulator found 64% of consumers did not change to consumers and implementing measures to help
plans during the twelve-month review period. The study keep consumers on plans that best reflect their actual
claims a quarter of post-paid consumers could save requirements.” Operator response Vodafone stated
an estimated average of NZD11.60 a month (USD7.84) it will work with the Telecommunications Forum on a
by moving to a cheaper plan that would still cover detailed response, but argued the report showed the
their usage. It also observed that 7% of all residential country’s mobile sector is one of the most competitive,
consumers spent a relatively high amount on mobile with a majority of consumers already shopping around.
services, given their usage, and that these consumers ComCom’s research showed more than a third of
could potentially save an average of NZD48.65 a consumers which signed up to base plans switched
month. ‘Our work suggests that some consumers are during the 12-month period, significantly higher than
significantly overspending on their mobile plans due the electricity sector, the operator added. It highlighted
to transparency and inertia problems in the market,’ the report implies 93 per cent of consumers are paying
stated Tristan Gilbertson. The Commission has also a fair amount, and pointed to a recent GSMA survey in
encouraged the wider industry to initiate a program which New Zealand ranked third in the world in terms
of work on a ‘consumer data right’ so consumers of mobile networks and services.
can choose to share their usage, spend and product (September 17, 2020) mobileworldlive.com

Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) Chief rollouts and fresh initiatives. Danbatta was speaking
Executive Umar Garba Danbatta, predicted Nigeria at a media briefing, where he stated there will be mass
will see “significant improvement” in its telecoms deployments of 4G networks across the country,
industry over the next five years, backed by network deeper penetration of broadband, and pledged
Nigeria
144 SEP-OCT 2020