How Telkom negativly effects South Africa

Today, I heard about a foreign businessman talking about Telkom. Talking back to his home country offices, he recommended that they not invest in south africa as his telephone bill was higher than his hotel bill.

The sad truth is that Telkom is screwing up the South African economy. A minority group of shareholders strangle this countries life blood out of it. We are so been taken advantage of, and not enough people seem to be doing anything about it.

I know for a fact at least 32 international companies have not given their business to South Africa because of Telkoms insane prices. They retrench tens of thousands of worker, but are "Proudly South Africa", over one hundred and fifty thousands new jobs could have been created if our prices were comparative with equal countries. Yet they are "Proudly South African"?

Think about how many times you pay Telkom a day. When you draw money from your ATM, when you watch TV, when you listen to the radio, when you talk on your cell phone, when you use your computer... the list is never ending, and all of these at crippling prices.

Telkom is using, and abusing South Africans. Each and every one of you, and I am not just talking about the ones with phones (considering that Telkom has disconnected over 2 million phones because people could not afford the prices), I am also talking about the majority 75% of the people of this country who can not afford basic telephonic services.

Telkom, you say you are the "Most loved brand in South Africa", well I call you for the liars you are and say you are the most HATED brand in South Africa. Wanna have a public opinion poll show down to prove me wrong? Thought not.

I have also seen how Telkom intimidate and abuse some of their staff. I have read letters from Telkom staff that have made me feel sick to the stomach. They seem to have the same regard for their staff as they do for us.

We all know about Telkom's dirty law tactics. Intimidation, law suites, dodgy lawyers. Oh, and by the way, how much does a Judge cost? Less than a minister I suppose. Not that I am implying anything

But hey, what does the constitution mean to Telkom? I will let you decide that. Its always amendable

I want you sit back, and think. How many new jobs would bloom in South Africa if we had a liberal telecoms market? Think of the possible price drops due to company telephone costs been cut up to 400%. Think of the investment that would flow into the country.

By the way. If you think Telkom is the most hated brand in South Africa. Post here

All points taken w1z4rd, Telkom really does have a strangle hold on our economy. Other countries are screaming along when it comes to the IT sector.The Indian IT sector and the likes are developing rapidly due to more relaxed telecoms laws. Its kinda like a snow ball effect; less telecoms costs, more investment, more start ups, more employment etc SA seems to just be plodding along. Its great to see a site such as antitrust.co.za launch and really show people in thier faces what Telkom is really about, aswell as hellkom. My blood boils when I see those pathetic Telkom adverts on TV, unfortunately 99% of SA laps it up.
My point: Generally tech savvy users look for a bargain when it comes to ADSL. Guys sit and moan about Telkom, prices, service etc. But it amazes me that when you ask who their service provider is: TELKOM. Hypocrite. One should support private business such as Storm and IS, aswell as support VISP's who use these companies as thier 1st tier providers. At the end of the day we all support Telkom in one way or another, but if we stop supporting their services and VISP's I am sure they will catch a wake up.

Telkom (and our governments part in all of this) is just another classic example of why this g0d forsaken continent is the way it is: screwed.

We moved offices.

It took Telkom a mere 6 weeks to move the telephone lines for our PABX.

We still don't have a fax line or ADSL for that matter as it is handled by a different department. The attitude of Telkom employees are disgusting - "tough luck to you, your business and your employees".

I would recommend to investors: Don't bring your money to South Africa. You will be subjected to legal skimming by a multitude of regulated legal "skimmers".

BTW: We have a branch office in Botswana. Recently the telephones went down and Botswana Telephone Corporation would not even accept the complaint - as they already had too many to attend to!

It seems as if Botswana is just as bad as SA for investment if one has a look at telecoms.