Phone dispute may head to court

ITWeb says MTN is in discussions with Cell C over the roll-out of its 52 000 community service telephones (CSTs). While it hopes to resolve the issue, it may follow legal proceedings to have the ‘illegal’ telephones removed. MTN took Icasa to court in September 2004, claiming Cell C\'s roll-out was illegal as it was not restricted to rural and poorer areas, as intended. MTN\'s head of regulatory affairs Nkateko Nyoka says MTN was forced to subsidise Cell C\'s commercial operations. Cell C charged CST rates to its customers in areas where it should be charging commercial rates, short-changing MTN on the interconnect rates, he says. Cell C\'s defence was that the roll-out plan was based on maps approved by Icasa. Icasa conceded to the court it had not ‘applied its mind’ in approving Cell C\'s roll-out plan. The judge said Cell C was not to blame. Full ITWeb report