This week wholesale call termination rates, or interconnection rates as they are popularly known, were reduced to 20c a minute from 40c previously.
This week wholesale call termination rates, or interconnection rates as they are popularly known, were reduced to 20c a minute from 40c previously.
This, despite a ruling in the high court on Monday that the regulations were unlawful and invalid.
Cellphone giants, MTN and Vodacom, launched an urgent application last week to stop the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) implementing the new rates on the grounds that they would be prejudiced.
Judge Haseena Mayat suspended the order for six months to allow Icasa to promulgate the legislation lawfully, because she "recognised that Icasa was burdened with the task of promoting competition in the market".
The regulations are likely to lower cellphone rates and make communication cheaper.
But this is cold comfort to Grahamstown residents who know well the challenges of slow internet connection and poor cellphone reception.
Residents will all recognise the problem: Internet pages take ages to load, watching YouTube videos is frustrating, Whatsapp does not function and calls are dropped among many network-related problems.
This is especially frustrating for academics and students who are new to Grahamstown, or who commute frequently.
Rhodes student, Taylia Meese, from Knysna, in the Western Cape, said that even in Knysna the data speed is faster than in Grahamstown.
"I live on the ground floor of my residence on Rhodes campus and in my room I never have 3G reception. Sometimes I have 3G reception if I go upstairs to a friend's room," she said.
Meese said she almost never uses the internet on her phone because it is just too slow. She said she prefers to use the WiFi on campus.
"The only reason I have Cell C is because their airtime offers," she said.
Professor Jane Duncan, the Highway Africa Chair of Media and Information Society at Rhodes, divides her time between Johannesburg and Grahamstown and drives the road between the cities frequently.
"The problem is really frustrating! I am on Vodacom and when I drive down to Grahamstown, I check my e-mail all the time. For most of the trip, the reception is fine, even in places like Queenstown, Fort Beaufort and Whittlesea. But soon as I hit Grahamstown the problem worsens to the point where it becomes practically unusable, even on Edge," she said.
‘But I also have the problem at home in Johannesburg. Vodacom has become worse and worse, and now does not (even) get Edge," she said.
Jovan Ocks, who has worked at the MTN store in Pepper Grove Mall for 18 months confirmed many customers complain about the internet speed in Grahamstown. "Cellphone coverage in Grahamstown is difficult, because 3G is limited. MTN recently put a new fifth tower into service, to respond the increasing users of data in Grahamstown."
Glenn Arthur of Videotronic (Vodacom) on High Street said he believed the problem was due to congestion. "There are too many users in Grahamstown, for the infrastructure. The mobile providers should improve their infrastructure," he said.
Meanwhile, in the bigger cities such as Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C are developing the 4G long term evolution (LTE)TE) network, an internet speed that will be faster then 3G. Said Duncan: "I have complained to Vodacom until I am blue in the face, both here in Grahamstown and in Johannesburg, but nothing ever seems to get better. The mobile operators are extolling the virtues of 4G, when we cannot even get 2G here."
However Eben Albertyn, Chief Technology Officer at MTN said damage by vandalism was contributing to the problem: "MTN currently has five operational 3G sites that serve subscribers in Grahamstown. In December 2013, we experienced vandalism on two of the 3G sites which has led to strain on the remaining three sites that are operational, which explains why slower speeds are being experienced by customers. Currently there is still one site down due to vandalism however we are in the process of fixing this."
Albertyn said that there are eight new 3G sites in the acquisition stage and construction would begin once MTN has all the necessary permits. "These new towers will provide additional 3G capacity in Grahamstown," he said.
Carol Hall, managing executive of Vodacom Eastern Region, said: "We have extensive 3G infrastructure in Grahamstown and have plans in place to add new sites this year. A general comment applicable across South Africa is that the demand for mobile data is growing very quickly and there is a bottleneck getting permission to build new sites from the relevant authorities. On top of this, residents often oppose the installation of new sites which then delays the process further while we look for alternatives. We have earmarked R9 billion for network investment in 2014, an increase of seven billion rand on 2013, so the issue is not a lack of funding."
Hall said it was not possible that coverage in the whole town was poor. "We need specific and detailed (problem) areas so we can send our mechanics there to improve our towers," she said.
As a last resort consumers can complain to Icasa, but consumer complaints' Rama Mahape said that "before consumers approach Icasa, they must have reported their complaint to their provider. Icasa wants the mobile providers to be given a chance to improve their services. If this is not done consumers can approach Icasa but must provide us with a reference number. We will then take up the matter with the service provider".
Cellphone users can test the speed of the internet on their cellphone via speedtest.net by ookla.
Grocott's Mail undertook random testing this week and confirmed that on many cellphones tested across Grahamstown, the internet was so slow the test did not work at all.
The speed of a 3G connection should be between 3 and 7 Megabits per second, depending on signal strength said Lwando Shode, help desk manger at Imaginet in Grahamstown, who recorded speed of 3.5 Megabits on his phone while talking to Grocott's Mail.
Most cellphones tested had a speed between 0.2 and 3.5 Megabits per second. Speeds were slowest around Pepper Grove Mall and at Rhodes, especially on lower campus.
Speeds were also slow on devices such as iPads and other tablets.
