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Thank you Mahlangu
Telkom dropped a bomb in South Africa’s telecom industry this week when it said it was approaching the Competition Commission to challenge Vodacom’s roaming deals with Rain. But why?
In this episode of the TechCentral podcast, Telkom group government relations and regulatory affairs executive Siyabonga Mahlangu explains why the company has decided to oppose an earlier decision by the Competition Commission and Icasa that the spectrum agreements between Vodacom and Rain should not be considered a merger. , and therefore not “notifiable” in terms of the Competition Law.
“The Competition Commission adopted a limited interpretation of what is happening. In our opinion, they focused on technical integration and did not consider financial incentives between the parties… We also believe that there was not a detailed review of all ex ante incentives and the mechanics of these deals and how they impact the market structure and the dynamics of competition in the mobile sector, ”said Mahlangu.
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When asked why Telkom is approaching the court now, given that the commission and Icasa originally approved the agreement between Vodacom and Rain in 2018, he said: “We have been engaging with both authorities without stopping ever since … begging you to reconsider this … “
Mahlangu said the question is not whether Vodacom and Rain should be allowed to reach the agreements they have, but whether they should be required to go through merger control regulations.
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“This is Rain giving control of its spectrum and its radio access network to a dominant operator. The only way in which this type of transaction is regulated in this country is through the Competition Law, ”he said.
“The effect of these contractual agreements is that they have compromised Rain’s productive capacity to serve Vodacom’s needs for an extended period with an impact on the market structure and the dynamics of competition.”
Watch or listen to the podcast to learn more about Telkom’s opinion on the Vodacom and Rain deal, as well as similar roaming agreements that Vodacom and MTN reached with Liquid Telecoms for the deployment of 5G and 4G / LTE infrastructure, respectively.
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