Telecoms market reviews for the SA regulator

Genesis was commissioned by the South African communications regulator, ICASA, to work on a number of key regulatory initiatives. In one such case, the firm was commissioned to develop a series of market reviews, a legal requirement needed to justify both existing and new pro-competitive regulations.

The reviews were conducted for each of the following services: call termination, mobile access and call origination; end-to-end retail and wholesale leased lines; fixed and mobile narrowband access and call services; fixed-line narrowband exchange line services, call origination and call conveyance; wholesale access to the fixed-line local loop; and wholesale and retail asymmetric broadband services.

Each review required a detailed analysis of market definitions, significant market power (SMP), the effectiveness of the competition and principles for pro-competitive interventions. Based on the assessment of the effectiveness of the competition, each review provided recommendations as to the pro-competitive remedies that should be applied.

The Genesis reports were used by ICASA in its review of the wholesale call termination market (Government Gazette, January 2007, Vol. 499, No. 29568) and end-to-end leased lines and other wholesale services (Government Gazette, May 2007, Vol. 503, No. 29863).