{"id":18314,"date":"2017-08-08T14:35:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T12:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.pricecheck.co.za\/?p=18314"},"modified":"2017-08-08T14:35:42","modified_gmt":"2017-08-08T12:35:42","slug":"icasa-drops-data-expiration-bombshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/icasa-drops-data-expiration-bombshell\/","title":{"rendered":"ICASA drops data expiration bombshell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ICASA, the the communications regulator, has released a proposed draft which could drastically change the way networks deal with mobile data.<\/p>\n<p>Local networks have created data pricing structures which allow data to expire every 30 days &#8211; at times even less &#8211; if not used. ICASA&#8217;s proposal &#8220;intends to amend End-user and Subscriber Service Charter Regulations 2016 published in Government Gazette.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The proposal states that in terms of voice and SMS services:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A Licensee* must send notifications for voice and SMS usage intervals to an end-user, the intervals must show 50%, 75%, 90% and 100% service depletion. The notification must be through SMS or any other applicable means.<\/li>\n<li>A Licensee must provide end-users who are on post-paid \/ hybrid tariff plans with an option to buy additional voice services or SMS services upon depletion of such services.<\/li>\n<li>Where an end-user who is on a post-paid \/ hybrid tariff plan does not buy additional voice services or SMS services, the licensee will disconnect the end-user from access to services and allow such endusers to only use emergency services and customer care services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In terms of data usage:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A Licensee must provide a mechanism for end-users to opt-in for or opt-out of bundle charges when their data bundle is depleted.<\/li>\n<li>A Licensee must ensure that an end-user is:\n<ul>\n<li>sent data depletion notifications on regular intervals through SMS, USSD or any other applicable means, the interval must show 50%, 75%, 90% and 100% depletion of data bundles;\u00a0sent warning notifications when his \/ her data bundle has completely run out or is depleted;<\/li>\n<li>provided with an option to buy additional data bundles upon depletion of his \/ her allocated data through the USSD platform or any other applicable means;<\/li>\n<li>not defaulted automatically to out of bundle data charges upon depletion of his \/ her data bundles; and<\/li>\n<li>provided an option through SMS, USSD or any other applicable means to opt-in or opt-out of data bundle usage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Where an end-user does not opt-in or opt-out of out of bundle data usage when his \/ her data bundle has been depleted, a Licensee must automatically disconnect the end-user from out of bundle data usage until such time that the end-user gives express consent or authorization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The proposal also stipulates a validity period for mobile data to which networks must agree:<\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 219px;\" border=\"2\" width=\"486\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Data bundle size<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Validity<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">1 MB \u2013 50MB<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">10 days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">50MB \u2013 500 MB<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">30 days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">500MB \u2013 1 Gig<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">60 days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">1Gig \u2013 5 Gig<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">90 days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">5 Gig \u2013 10 Gig<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">180 days<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">10 Gig \u2013 20Gig<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">12 months<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">20 Gig &gt;<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 235px; text-align: center;\">\u00a024 months<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>As well as stating that networks must notify its end-users with expiry of their data period within seven (7) days prior to expiry date of such data.<\/p>\n<p>Interested parties have 30 days from the date of the proposal having been issued (30 August 2017) to comment.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>*Licensee refers to the networks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ICASA, the the communications regulator, has released a proposed draft which could drastically change the way networks deal with mobile data. Local networks have created data pricing structures which allow data to expire every 30 days &#8211; at times even less &#8211; if not used. ICASA&#8217;s proposal &#8220;intends to amend End-user and Subscriber Service Charter<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"\/blog\/icasa-drops-data-expiration-bombshell\/\" title=\"Read More\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2375,252,2245,2374,2377,559,2376],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/pexels-photo-404280.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18314"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18314"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18316,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18314\/revisions\/18316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}