EFF slams MTN and Vodacom over court challenge against ICASA data rollover rules

The EFF has criticised MTN and Vodacom for challenging ICASA’s regulations protecting unused data, saying South Africans should not forfeit data, voice and SMS bundles they have purchased. TheEconomic Freedom Fighters(EFF) has condemned MTN and Vodacom’s decision to challenge theIndependent Communications Authority of South Africa’s(ICASA) new consumer protection regulations in court. The party said the legal challenge was an attempt to undermine measures aimed at protecting consumers from the expiry and forfeiture of unused data, voice and SMS bundles.

In a statement, the EFF said the legal challenge sought to undermine regulations introduced by ICASA to protect consumers from the expiry and forfeiture of unused data, voice and SMS bundles. The party said it had consistently campaigned for stronger consumer protections, arguing that telecommunications companies should not confiscate services that customers had already paid for. “We took the struggle for the protection of unused data directly to Parliament and have consistently maintained that data does not rot, expire, or perish like food.

”There is no rational or moral justification for telecommunications companies to confiscate data that our struggling people have already paid for simply because a date printed in a system has been reached,” the EFF said. The party described ICASA’s regulations, which provide for the automatic rollover of unused data, voice and SMS bundles at no additional cost to consumers, as “a significant victory” for millions of South Africans.