http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A108557
Telkom’s creative accounting
A court has forced a halt to price increases from November 1 for ADSL to internet service provider (ISP) customers. Telkom says prices should in fact decrease, claiming “broadband capping does not result in a price increase”.
This is totally misleading and typical of the creative accounting Telkom uses to hide profiteering and massive increases in its rates.
Before November 1, all international traffic on an ADSL account provided to ISPs (and hence to end users) by Telkom virtually halted when the Telkom-devised monthly data transfer maximum was reached by that user. Sites like google.com were then unavailable. The South African data traffic, however, continued normally.
Anyone who reached their data transfer maximum and who wishes to access any non-South African internet facility would have to purchase an additional ADSL subscription from their ISP.
This changed on November 1. Now users reaching their Telkom-imposed data transfer limit on their ADSL internet subscription — both international and local access — will be denied access. The only way to access any website, or facilities like an e-mail server, will be by purchasing an additional ADSL subscription (from Telkom, as the wholesaler to ISPs). This is due entirely to the change in the wholesale ADSL pricing structure forced on ISPs by Telkom.
I pay just over R300 a month to my ISP for a “3 Gigabyte” privilege. From November 1, once I reach the maximum I will have to pay a minimum of R600 a month or more to my ISP. The effect is a minimum 100% price increase.
I challenge anyone from Telkom to refute this.
Any employee who can, will win the Creative Accounting Award for 2005. And please, none of the “average user” or “average usage” or “average basket of services” nonsense Telkom regularly throws at the media when justifying stealth price increases. No one at Telkom, including their spin doctors, is paid an “average salary”.
Don Smith
Johannesburg
Telkom’s creative accounting
A court has forced a halt to price increases from November 1 for ADSL to internet service provider (ISP) customers. Telkom says prices should in fact decrease, claiming “broadband capping does not result in a price increase”.
This is totally misleading and typical of the creative accounting Telkom uses to hide profiteering and massive increases in its rates.
Before November 1, all international traffic on an ADSL account provided to ISPs (and hence to end users) by Telkom virtually halted when the Telkom-devised monthly data transfer maximum was reached by that user. Sites like google.com were then unavailable. The South African data traffic, however, continued normally.
Anyone who reached their data transfer maximum and who wishes to access any non-South African internet facility would have to purchase an additional ADSL subscription from their ISP.
This changed on November 1. Now users reaching their Telkom-imposed data transfer limit on their ADSL internet subscription — both international and local access — will be denied access. The only way to access any website, or facilities like an e-mail server, will be by purchasing an additional ADSL subscription (from Telkom, as the wholesaler to ISPs). This is due entirely to the change in the wholesale ADSL pricing structure forced on ISPs by Telkom.
I pay just over R300 a month to my ISP for a “3 Gigabyte” privilege. From November 1, once I reach the maximum I will have to pay a minimum of R600 a month or more to my ISP. The effect is a minimum 100% price increase.
I challenge anyone from Telkom to refute this.
Any employee who can, will win the Creative Accounting Award for 2005. And please, none of the “average user” or “average usage” or “average basket of services” nonsense Telkom regularly throws at the media when justifying stealth price increases. No one at Telkom, including their spin doctors, is paid an “average salary”.
Don Smith
Johannesburg
