The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) hereby gives notice to all licensees and stakeholders that the Reasons Document for the ICASA General Licence Fees Regulations 2012, as amended, have been finalised and published on 7 August 2014. The Reasons Document also gives reasons for the amendment to the definition of a `licensed service’ as contained in the ICASA General Licence Fee Amendment Regulations, 2014.
The Regulations, which became effective from 1 April 2013, are aimed at prescribing administrative fees payable to the Authority in respect of an application for a licence, amendment to a licence, transfer or renewal of licences, as well as the annual licence fees payable to the Authority.
The Regulations introduced a new regime of licence fees calculation which are primarily based on generated revenue. Licensees will be required to calculate what is due to the Authority by applying an applicable percentage on their revenue generated from licensed services. The applicable percentage is on a sliding scale with the percentage increase from low to high revenues. For instance, the applicable percentage is from 0.15 percent up to 0.35 percent with licensees generating less than R50 million paying at 0.15 percent and over R1 billion paying at 0.35 percent.
It is important to note that the fact that the 2012 Regulations commenced on 1st April 2013 means the licensees must calculate licence fees on the basis of the 2009 Regulations for any part of any financial year up until 31 March 2013. Licence fees for the year from April 2013 must be calculated on the basis of the 2012 Regulations. The Regulations require of all licence holders to, within six months of their financial year end, submit their audited financial statements to the Authority.
Any licensee who fails to pay the annual licence fees will result in the suspension of the licence issued by the Authority in terms of the Electronic Communications Act until such time that the annual licence fees are fully paid, with interest. Community Sound and Public Broadcasting Services licensees are exempted from paying annual licence fees.
Enquiries:
Paseka Maleka
Tel: 011 566 3455
Mobile: 079 509 0702
E-mail: pmaleka@icasa.org.za
