The Competition Commission on Wednesday invited stakeholders wishing to participate in its market inquiry into data services to make formal submissions.

Submissions would close on November 1.

The commission last month initiated the inquiry as it believes there are features in the market that prevent, distort or restrict competition within the sector. The inquiry was also requested by Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.

The main objectives of the inquiry are to obtain a clear understanding of the data services value chain; assess the state of competition in the market at every stage of the value chain for the provision of data services; benchmark South African data services pricing against those of other countries; and establish whether data supply quality and cover is adequate by international standards.

The inquiry will assess the market structure; the general adequacy and impact of the current regulatory regime; strategic behaviour by large fixed and mobile incumbents; costs faced and profits earned by fixed and mobile network operators; current arrangements for sharing of network infrastructure; investment in infrastructure by operators and access to or allocation of spectrum as this relates to data services price and competition concerns; and the adequacy of regulation to promote new South African entrants.

The commission is calling on consumers, companies, organisations and other bodies that have an interest in the data and telecommunications markets, including those directly involved in these markets and those that are affected by such markets more broadly, to make submissions.
 
All the submissions must be accompanied by a signed DSI1 form, which is available on the commission’s website.

Submissions should also be in accordance with the requirements set out in the Data Services Market Inquiry Guidelines for Stakeholder Participation.