http://www.news24.com/News24/South_A...538983,00.html

DA: Phone charges should drop
07/06/2004 16:54 - (SA)

Cape Town - Telkom should drop phone charges next year in light of the excellent results it posted on Monday, the Democratic Alliance said.

"The communications regulator Icasa should be allowed to adjust the rate regime so that Telkom is forced to file more realistic phone tariffs in November this year," DA communications spokesperson Dene Smuts said in a statement on Monday.

Smuts was commenting after Telkom released results showing a 49% increase in profits from its fixed line operations.

"... there is simply no reason why phone charges should not drop radically next year."

She said the European system of setting a flat rate for Internet connection would be an excellent way to get South Africa online and reduce costs for small business.

"But it cannot serve as an excuse for letting our unnatural fixed line monopoly get away with exorbitant phone tariffs," Smuts warned.

Edited by Elmarie Jack

<b><hr noshade size="1"></b><font size="2"><font color="red"><b>You can take Telkom out of the Post Office but you can't take the Post Office out of Telkom.</b></font id="red"></font id="size2">