Part A – Request for pre-existing documents and information

  1. Provide a list of legal business entities within your group that are responsible for providing operations and services in South Africa, including call termination services.
  2. For each of the legal business entities listed in response to1, provide Audited Financial Statements for the three most recent financial years.
  3. For each of the legal business entities listed in response to 1, provide complete Annual Management Accounts for the three most recent financial years. The management accounts mustbe the complete reporting pack provided to senior management at the end of each financial year.
  4. For each of the legal business entities listed in the response to 1, provide the most recent existing full fixed asset register. Please ensure these asset registers contain for each asset recorded:-
  5. Original cost;
  6. Accumulated depreciation;
  7. An estimate of the remaining economic life of the asset;
  8. Depreciation charge;
  9. Accumulated revaluation/impairment charges.
  10. Provide the discount rates used for investment appraisals or capital projects in South Africa during the most recent financial year. For each discount rate provided, indicate whether it is pre or post tax, real or nominal.
  11. Provide details of the asset (unleveraged equity) beta used in its derivation of the discount rates used for investment appraisals or capital projects.
  12. Provide details of the average yields to maturity on corporate bonds for the most recent financial year. Alternatively, provide an estimate of the credit spread for debt instruments (relative to the repo rate, JIBAR or prime rate etc.) for the most recent financial year.
  13. Provide details of any target or minimum gearing ratio (debt/capital employed) used by the operator for the most recent financial year.
  14. Provide your most recent COA/CAM and LRIC Operating Procedures Manuals.
  15. Provide your most recent Regulatory Financial Statements prepared in accordance with your most recent COA/CAM or and LRIC Operating Procedures Manuals.
  16. Provide your current routing matrices for voice services and for data services.
  17. Provide the detailed internal budgets (one year, multi-year and five year) for operations in South Africa. Provide supporting calculations and documentation in respect of the budgeted network costs over the multi-year period (capex and opex, plus supporting assumptions). In addition, provide the detailed supporting calculations and assumptions for the growth and pattern of traffic on the network that underpins the revenue assumptions. Specifically:-
  18. Future growth of subscriber numbers (for mobile operators, split between handset and datacard numbers; for fixed operators, split between voice and data subscribers.);
  19. Future growth and pattern of voice calls by category (i.e. Incoming minutes, Outgoing minutes, On-net minutes, Roaming minutes, Call management);
  20. Future growth of data usage;
  21. For mobile operators, future growth of SMSes and MMSes.

Part B – Request for specific revenue data

  1. For the most recent three financial years please provide the following data:-
  2. For mobile operators, total revenue and ARPU data for handset subscribers (i.e. subscribers to voice services) and data subscribers (i.e. datacard subscriber numbers). For each, split the data between pre-paid and post-paid subscribers.
  3. For fixed operators, total revenue and ARPU data for subscribers to voice services and subscribers to ADSL services.
  4. Provide interconnect revenues and interconnect balance for each wholesale customer (i.e. mobile and fixed line operators).

Part C – Request for information regarding implementation of new termination rates

  1. New termination rates came into force in South Africa on 01 April 2014. Please provide all strategic, scenario, or investment plans and planning documents created in anticipation of the new termination rates, and in anticipation of changes in asymmetry levels. Please also provide all relevant data informing these plans and planning documents. The documents should include but not be limited to:-
  2. All high-level strategic planning documents, all investment planning and strategy documents, all sales and marketing planning and strategy documents, all network operation planning and strategy documents, and all budgeting documents that were generated in anticipation of and preparation for the new 2014 termination rates. These documents must include those considered by the Board in relevant Board meetings.
  3. All models, modeling results, and any other projected data showing anticipated or projected changes to the following variables under the new termination rate environment.Where applicable, these models, modeling results, and any other projected or forward-looking data should be provided for as many years as possible.
  4. Termination receipts received from each wholesale customer (operator);
  5. Termination payments made to each wholesale customer (operator);
  6. For peak and off-peak periods separately, incoming, on-net and off-net voice traffic flows (in minutes). These traffic flows must be broken down by wholesale customer (operator). For mobile operators, these traffic flows must be further broken down by type of subscriber (pre-paid and post-paid).
  7. For mobile operators, pre-paid and post-paid subscriber numbers (separately);
  8. For fixed line operators, total subscriber numbers.
  9. Total voice revenue. For mobile operators, these total revenues should be broken down by subscriber type (pre-paid and post-paid);
  10. Investment in voice networks, voice products, or voice services.
  11. If not covered by the documents submitted in response to any of the requests above, please provide all documents that detail and demonstrate the various direct and indirect roles that termination revenue plays in your business. This should include but not be limited to:-
  12. Documents showing what business activities (e.g. fixed investment, product investments, marketing, pricing, network operations, etc.) have benefited from termination revenue in the past three years;
  13. Documents showing the extent to which these business activities have benefited from termination revenue in the past three years;
  14. Documents showing how and to what extent these business activities are likely to be impacted, positively or negatively, by changes in net termination revenue during 2014, 2015, and 2016.
  15. If not covered by the documents submitted in response to any of the requests above, please provide all strategic, planning, or other relevant documents addressing the expected impact on your business, including investment activities, of any changes in asymmetry margins brought about by the new Regulations.
  16. From January 2012 to May 2014 inclusive, please provide monthly data showing:-
  17. Termination revenue by operator;
  18. Termination payments by operator;
  19. For peak and off-peak periods separately, on-net and off-net voice traffic flows (in minutes);
  20. In the case of off-net voice traffic flows, disaggregate these data by terminating network.
  21. Pre-paid and post-paid subscriber numbers (separately);
  22. Total voice revenue;
  23. Please provide all sales and marketing strategy and planning documents and any other planning or strategy documents related to your most recent retail price promotionfor voice services, or any similar recent change to retail prices for voice services. If no recent retail price alteration has occurred, please provide all sales and marketing strategy and planning documents and another planning or strategy documents that currently exist relating to any anticipated or planned retail price alteration for voice services. These documents must demonstrate:-
  24. The rationale for the actual or anticipated retail price change. This should include details of the circumstances under which the decision was taken, copies of the relevant portions of the relevant Board meeting minutes, and all relevant documents submitted to Board meetings, in which the most recent retail price change or the anticipated priced change has been discussed by the Board.
  25. Full details of the price change (whether planned or actually introduced) including:-
  26. The circumstances under which the price change applies or will apply, including the type of customer and product packages to which it applies or will apply;
  27. The date of implementation or planned implementation and period of the new retail price;
  28. The magnitude of the price change (in Rands/cents and in percent);
  29. Your estimates of the number of subscribers likely to qualify for the new retail price;
  30. Your estimates of the number of minutes that are likely to be sold at the new retail price(s) (distinguishing between peak and off-peak).
  31. Please provide documents and data detailing the expected impacts of the price change (whether actually implemented or planned), in particular:-
  32. The expected impact on your subscriber numbers (for mobile operators, pre-paid and post-paid separately);
  33. The expected impact on usage (total demand, in minutes. For mobile operators, split between pre-paid and post-paid minutes.);
  34. The expected impact on termination revenues received from each of your wholesale customers (operators), and termination payments made to each of your wholesale customers (operators);
  35. The expected impact on total retail voice revenues (for mobile operators, split between pre-paid and post-paid);
  36. The total expected consumer benefit from the price change in terms of money saved per second.
  37. If you have implemented a recent retail price change/promotion, please provide documents and data (in monthly form) detailing the actual impacts of the price change from the date of implementation, in particular:-
  38. The actual impact on subscriber numbers (for mobile operators, pre-paid and post-paid separately);
  39. The actual impact on usage (total demand, in minutes). This should be separated into on-net and off-net usage;
  40. The actual impact on net termination revenue;
  41. The actual impact on total voice revenue;
  42. The actual total savings, if any, by your customers as a result of the price reduction.
  43. For requests 15and 18 above, please submit ongoing monthly updates for the months of June and July 2014.