Hon House Chairperson, the department recognises the need to ensure that the majority of the South African population have access to affordable telecommunication services.
In this regard the department commissioned a benchmark study to investigate telecommunication costs in the country compared with those in some other countries, namely Brazil, Chile, India and Malaysia. The report identified interconnection as an area which required immediate attention.
As a result, the then Minister undertook to address the high cost of mobile termination rates, MTRs, and intervened by facilitating discussions between the operators and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, Icasa, which led to the agreement to gradually reduce the mobile termination rates over a period of three years.
In this regard Icasa published mobile call termination regulations on 29 October 2010. The regulations adopt a glide path which indicates that mobile voice call termination will between 2011 and 2013 decline from the current rate of 0,89c to 0,73c in March 2011, to 0,56c in March 2012, and to 0,40c in March 2013.
The department believes that these benefits will in the medium to long term be passed on to consumers through innovation in the provision of diversified telecommunication prices and services, thus encouraging services-based competition. Retail prices have declined through competitive pressures, particularly in the offering of the new, cheaper contract packages which provide smart phones and thus provide access to the Internet, supporting a core policy objective of the country.
In addition, mobile data prices have plummeted, with a two-gigabyte data bundle now costing R149 a month. On average, 500 megabytes in 2007 cost about R400 per month and now consumers can get two gigabytes at less than half of what they used to pay in 2007. Currently, consumers can get a two- gigabyte data bundle at an average cost of R149 per month. We anticipate that this trend will continue, leading to more affordable data prices to consumers.
Furthermore, the price charged by operators for a smart phone ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]