He describes how the association operates, and provides information for consumers on how to lodge a complaint.
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1. Describe how ISPA operates and what its primary function is.
The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) is a South African Internet industry body not for gain. ISPA currently has 158 members, comprised of large, medium and small Internet service and access providers in South Africa. Formed in 1996, ISPA has historically served as an active industry body, facilitating exchange between the different independent Internet service providers, the Department of Communications, ICASA, operators and other service providers in South Africa.
2. How long have you been the General Manager of ISPA and what do you enjoy most about your position?
I have been involved with ISPA since it was formed in 1996, starting as the association's Secretary, spending some time handling the Regulatory portfolio, and currently in the position of ISPA's General Manager. The best part about my current position is keeping an eye on all of ISPA's various activities, and staying in touch with developments in the local Internet industry. The Internet industry has always been dynamic and fast changing, but the current changes in the licensing framework and resulting boost to competition makes this a particularly exciting time to be involved in the development of the South African Internet.
3. What does your average work day entail?
ISPA is a completely virtual organisation, making full use of all the benefits of the wired world. We have no central offices, and have staff and office bearers scattered around the country. We also hold 90% of our meetings via teleconference, and make heavy use of online tools ,such as mailing lists, to co-ordinate our activities.
ISPA is also a busy organisation with 12 active working groups dealing with everything from our teachers' training program, through to conference organisation, consumer complaints processing and regulatory support for our members.
That means that my typical day involves participating in between one and three Working Groups teleconferences, doing preparation for upcoming teleconferences, workshops and answering emails. Answering a lot of emails.
4. What qualifications and qualities do you need to work for an association like ISPA?
Most of the people involved with ISPA are volunteers working at Internet organisations who are members of ISPA. Our Management Committee is elected by ISPA's members each year, and candidates for the ManCom need to have a passion for the Internet industry, the ability to fairly represent the interests of all of ISPA's members and a willingness to give quite generously of their time.
ISPA's paid secretariat staff come from a variety of backgrounds, but most of them have many years of experience working with non-profit industry bodies in the communications section. Because ISPA is a distributed organisation, staff needs to be able to work well under their own steam and experience in using online collaboration tools is also very helpful.
5. When should a consumer lodge a complaint against their internet service provider?
If a consumer is having a problem with their service provider, they should lodge a complaint with ISPA if:
If all these hold true, then the next stop is the online complaint form.
Once we get the complaint, we will give the ISP a chance to resolve the matter informally with the customer. If that process doesn't prove successful then the complaint will be referred to an independent adjudicator for a review and a ruling.
More information on ISPA's complaints procedure is available on our
website.
6. Provide an example or case study of how a consumer’s complaint was resolved by using ISPA.
We prefer not to disclose the details of individual complaints, to protect the privacy of the complainants. However, the types of complaints we are typically able to resolve quite easily are billing errors, problems with the transfer of domain names between ISPs and notification of allegedly unlawful content for which a valid take-down notice is provided.
In many of the complaints referred to ISPA, the customer simply hasn't managed to make contact with the right person at that ISP to get their complaint resolved. ISPA helps by making sure the complaint reaches the right person, and once that happens, the majority of complaints are resolved amicably between our member and the complainant.
7. Who are the top-performing Internet service providers in the industry?
ISPA's members cover a wide range of Internet services, focusing on Internet access, but also covering content hosting and development, corporate network support, security services, domain names services and Internet training. That makes it difficult to rate any particular ISP as "top-performing".
However, ISPA is proud to be the largest representative body not just of ISPs, but of all Electronic Communications Network Services (ECNS) and Electronic Communications Services (ECS) licence holders. So, however the top-performers might be measured, the chances are good that most of them are ISPA members.
8. How many complaints has your office handled over the last year?
We handle two types of complaints for ISPA's members, vanilla complaints of the sort usually lodged by consumers, and take-down notices which are specific requests for the removal of content hosted on ISPA’s members’ networks.
In 2008, there were 68 complaints lodged with ISPA, and 46 take-down notices, for a total of 114. Of those, 26 were not targeted against our members, and had to be rejected. Most of the remaining 88 were resolved informally, with fewer than a dozen requiring formal review by an adjudicator.
