Telkom faces a huge fine at competition tribunal

Should they get fined that amount (which I think is highly unlikely) and they do go South, what does that mean for us?
 
Pfft, I highly doubt that R3.5 billion will see them go bust.

ICASA should be fined too for providing them with a protected environment which allowed them to abuse their market position. And they are also responsible for approving Telkom's tariffs every year. I'd like to see ICASA go bust more than Telkom.
 
“Any fine of R3.5 billion is very big for any company in South Africa to pay and you could have a problem where the company’s survival at stake,” Mike Schussler, director of Economists.co.za, was quoted as saying.
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"Telkom’s failed Multi-Links transaction in Nigeria has cost the company more than R7bn" This is what the former Communications minister said. That's at least double this proposed fine.

Telkom was so arrogant in thinking they are superior looking at the monopoly profits they make in South Africa that they lost billions of South Africa's money in Nigeria as well as other failed ventures such as sattelite television.

Telkom monopoly needs to be unbundled urgently to remove its burden on South Africa's society
 
The punnishment must match the extent of the crime. In reality Telkom has abused its dominance and caused more than R3.5b in damages to all of its competitors and consumers. Telkom needs to be split up to separate wholesale from retail, such that the retail entities within Telkom are sold and have nothing to do with Telkom wholesale, if the fine is imposed, it will likely force Telkom to split of its own accord in order to survive, I do not see Telkom splitting voluntarily under any other conditions.

Considering that the R3.5b fine goes straight into government coffers (Treasury Department) and that government's shareholding in Telkom is not likely to generate profits like R3.5b in the foreseable future, I suspect the gravy train regulars will throw their considerable political weight behind imposing this fine.
 
j4ck455 said:
The punnishment must match the extent of the crime. In reality Telkom has abused its dominance and caused more than R3.5b in damages to all of its competitors and consumers.
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In that case the maximum fine will be less than R100million. This case revolves around a very specific product range and not the entire telecoms market in SA.
 
Fine them for everything they have robbed us since they have started. 3.5 quadrillion of rands.
 
MickeyD said:
In that case the maximum fine will be less than R100million. This case revolves around a very specific product range and not the entire telecoms market in SA.
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I accept your opinion, however I do not agree with your assessment.

Telkom's abuse of its market dominance has had very real financial implications for all of the original complainants, extrapolate lost earnings over time and R3.5b doesn't fully cover the losses that the complainants have collectively incurred.

I predict you will disagree, and I will agree to disagree with you.
 
Well it seems if they do get fined it will do more damage than good which just highlights once again what an unhealthy space the telecomms market is in.
Government needs to get rid of its stake in Telkom otherwise the DOC will never be allowed to function properly and ICASA will continue its path of incompetence.
At the moment true telecomms liberalization remains a pipe dream.
 
don't really care about the fine - it is a sideshow - but care very deeply about the precedent that will hopefully be created
 
Would be nice if the punishment could fit the crime i.e. instead of making Telkom pay out the fine value, rather force them to re-invest it in enabling/fast tracking open access e.g. LLU.

One can only dream though.
 
Roman4604 said:
Would be nice if the punishment could fit the crime i.e. instead of making Telkom pay out the fine value, rather force them to re-invest it in enabling/fast tracking open access e.g. LLU.

One can only dream though.
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If government supported such an outcome (which is highly unlikely with so many grubby fingers in the till), the R3.5b would be set aside for rollout projects undertaken by Broadband Infraco. I don't have any confidence in Broadband Infraco, just saying if government genuinely had good intentions, that's what could be done with the R3.5b.
 
ajules said:
Well it seems if they do get fined it will do more damage than good which just highlights once again what an unhealthy space the telecomms market is in.
Government needs to get rid of its stake in Telkom otherwise the DOC will never be allowed to function properly and ICASA will continue its path of incompetence.
At the moment true telecomms liberalization remains a pipe dream.
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+1 I was just thinking the same thing now. Every time we have an opportunity to nail Telkom, it seems to be of detriment to the customer. It's almost as if they're protected :rolleyes: Even when LLU was first discussed, we thought it would be good but then a few articles came out saying that it might not even result in lower ADSL costs. It seems that Telkom can't be touched and when they are, the customer loses even more.
 
This just in from our future corespondent: Telkom fine reduced to R100 million, paid over 5 years at 0% interest.

From our future +2 weeks corespondent: Telkom wants 700% tariff increase before the 11th of this month.

From our future +6 weeks corespondent: Communications minister [insert name of current harvester here] happily announces only 50% increase in communications cost each year over next 25.3 years.

Et cetera. Nothing to see here, move along.
 
I never understand cases like this.. u were bad, pay a fee and be on your way with doing bad?? Seriously.. why not just force them to not be anti-competitive in whatever form is equivalent to the situation now? Thats worth a whole lot more than 3.5bn tho.. but the right way it should be
 
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