South Africa has high data prices compared to other countries globally. The parliamentary portfolio committee on telecommunications and postal services conducted a two day hearing in September (2016) to investigate the high data prices in South Africa. In these hearings the South African mobile network operators (MNOs) submitted that the primary reason for high data costs was the “spectrum crunch” in large urban areas.
A summary of some of the major mergers, acquisitions and enforcement cases in the region.
Entry of the mobile technology ride-sharing service, Uber, into passenger transport markets across the world has brought disruptive competition with substantial benefits to consumers. Uber has rapidly grown its footprint in Africa with operations in eight countries including Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania.
In June this year, Liquid Telecom, a subsidiary of Zimbabwean telecommunications company Econet Wireless Group, announced its intentions to purchase Neotel, a network operator in South Africa. The deal is in partnership with Royal Bafokeng Holdings and is worth a reported R6.5 billion (US$ 430 million).
According to the South African Competition Act, the competition authorities are obliged to consider public interest grounds in merger analysis. The guidelines which were recently finalised by the Competition Commission of South Africa, and gazetted in 2 June 2016, seek to provide guidance on how the Commission will evaluate public interest considerations when evaluating mergers.
Maria Nkhonjera and Tatenda Zengeni
Since opening its doors in January 2013 the COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) has seen growth in the number of its merger cases. This growth followed a number of challenges initially faced with the interpretation of certain provisions of the Act, jurisdiction and high filing fees.
Anthea Paelo
The complexity and range of mobile money-related services provided in various African countries has grown significantly from ‘basic’ money transfer between people with customers storing currency in a mobile wallet via a handset, to include savings and loan products, insurance and bill payments.
