Aimed at SOHO users (Small office, home office) in South Africa, ADSL is the ideal telecommunications solution for small business. In KwaDukuza (Stanger, Ballito, Salt Rock) the bulk of business falls in to this SOHO category. My business relies heavily on email, and as I have a website, need to be able to update my site daily. I am a perfect candidate. On making application to Telkom, I was informed ADSL would not be available here until May 2005 because of low demand. Having battled for information, I asked how demand was being tracked and had no straight answers. I contacted Keith Brink, Head of Telkom Customer Services and was told that demand was being tracked “in a database somewhere”, “ADSL has a bad reputation because of unusual protocols like .co.za”, “if you (Stanger and the Dolphin Coast) didn’t want to join Durban Metro and be classed as a city, you can’t complain you have no infrastructure.” Go figure – we are the fastest growing municipal area in terms of property and business development and revenue growth in the country. I then contacted the Deputy General of Communications in Pretoria and was referred to Dr Sharon Horton Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs for Telkom. According to her ADSL is copper on hormones and the best thing since sliced bread for small business and home users.
Hans van der Groenendal, Head of Corporate Communications was quoted in a local newspaper saying ADSL was better suited to big business. Is this why there is a 3Gb data cap on the service? According to Sharon Horton, it is capped to discourage big business from using it. She was horrified by the lack of customer service being offered and took up the gauntlet.
On her enquiries, she discovered that the “real” rollout date for ADSL is Feb 2004. I have forwarded her the list of 50+ pre orders I have collected for the 032 exchange in the hope that the date will be brought forward to meet the local demand.
And so despite demand that grows daily, we have to swallow any ludicrous excuse and explanation Telkom come up with. It seems that Telkom has no idea of customer requirements, and more frightening, no idea of their own product and strategy. Research data and rollout criteria are not available for scrutiny. Perhaps some bloke in Pretoria saw the 032 prefix and decided that Ballito was a holiday town with no real demand. What a fatal assumption to make.
