South Africa’s communications regulator has withdrawn its suggestion that mobile network operators may have been colluding over controversial new data regulations, acknowledging that it had not conducted an investigation capable of establishing such conduct.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa issued the clarification after its use of the term “collusion” during a parliamentary briefing triggered questions from the telecommunications industry and media.

ICASA said the word was used in reference to what it regarded as similarities in the positions adopted by competing licensed operators regarding amendments to the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter regulations.

However, the regulator has now made clear that it did not have an evidentiary basis for a finding of collusion.

“ICASA has not conducted a market assessment or investigation that establishes collusion among the operators and no such finding has been made by the Authority,” the regulator said in its formal clarification.

The controversy began when ICASA officials raised concerns before Parliament about the similarity of objections coming from mobile operators to new regulations governing aspects of data, voice and SMS services.

Reports following that briefing identified Vodacom and MTN among the operators whose responses had attracted scrutiny.

The word “collusion” carries significant legal and commercial implications.

In competition law, coordinated conduct between competitors can potentially attract serious regulatory consequences if supported by evidence.

ICASA’s retraction therefore raises a separate accountability question about why such terminology was used publicly before any formal market assessment or investigation had established coordinated or anti-competitive conduct.

The regulator said the term had been used to describe an observation about what appeared to be similar experiences or positions among licensed operators, rather than as a formal finding that companies had coordinated their conduct.

ICASA has now expressly withdrawn that terminology.

The dispute comes amid broader tension between the regulator and telecommunications companies over amendments intended to strengthen consumer protections relating to mobile data and other services.

Those regulations have drawn significant interest because of their potential impact on how unused data, voice minutes and SMS allocations are handled by networks.

The legal and regulatory battle over those provisions is separate from the withdrawn collusion allegation.

For consumers, the most important distinction is therefore clear:

ICASA currently has no finding that South Africa’s mobile operators colluded.

The next question is whether Parliament will seek an explanation from the regulator about how such a serious allegation was placed before legislators without an underlying investigation.

MDNtv will continue tracking both the implementation of the new consumer regulations and any further regulatory or competition-law action involving mobile operators.

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