Telkom, Competition Commission settle on R449-million fine

They really should change the penalty for companies where government is a shareholder, as this fine just goes straight to them while negatively effecting all other shareholders. Special dividends ;)
 
And where does this money go? Why don't companies get forced to drop their prices instead?
 
Tpex said:
And where does this money go? Why don't companies get forced to drop their prices instead?
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Money goes to pay for the Competition Commissions' BMWs and Mercs. Glad you like bureaucracy.
 
This could now be used by Telkom as the reason why they have to keep current broadband pricing constant for the foreseeable future and then people would actually start to see the real reason behind the high fine. :whistle:
 
Telkom doesn't get government bailouts they fund other bailouts - an airline comes to mind

I am in favour of the fine if it results in acting as an incentive for Telkom to play ball in terms of the ECA - exactly the same situation as with Facilities Leasing. However it would be infinitely better if the fine was put straight back into national network infrastructure.
 
daveza said:
It would be better if the money was distributed amongst those who were prejudiced by the anti-competitive actions.
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They have a separate action against the company. Unfortunately - and I suspect it is the case here as well - it may occur that those who are most severely prejudiced by a company's misconduct are bankrupted before they can succeed with an action.
 
If telkom faces financial difficulty they will ask the Gov for a bailout - like SAA - So I don't think they give a rats bum.
 
I speak under correction but since 1991 Telkom has never received any bailout from the government. Their unfair advantage has taken the form of an imposed monopoly (under the 1996 Telecommunications Act) and possibly the odd government guaranty for financing, but this advantage was more than undermined by government interference etc ...

The fact that the settlement really amounts to the original fine it seems to me more of a case of their litigation guys having received advise that they have no prospects of success.
 
Paul Hjul said:
I speak under correction but since 1991 Telkom has never received any bailout from the government. Their unfair advantage has taken the form of an imposed monopoly (under the 1996 Telecommunications Act) and possibly the odd government guaranty for financing, but this advantage was more than undermined by government interference etc ...

The fact that the settlement really amounts to the original fine it seems to me more of a case of their litigation guys having received advise that they have no prospects of success.
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Paul, Telkom raked in epic proportions more than this during the period in question, it should have been billions.


This is a slap on the wrist with a wet tissue.
 
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Tpex said:
And where does this money go? Why don't companies get forced to drop their prices instead?
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Telkom's broadband revenue is over R10bill per annum. The fine is less than 5% of that. So if they were forced to drop prices it would just be a 5% cut. Not much of a drop and only for a year.
 
A little victory for us.

Glad it was upheld.

How this will translate into the future for Telkom (how they run their business) is still to be seen.
They're still not giving up on giving access to their exchanges...
 
Shake&Bake said:
A little victory for us.

Glad it was upheld.

How this will translate into the future for Telkom (how they run their business) is still to be seen.
They're still not giving up on giving access to their exchanges...
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In this instance they have already changed the way they operate (quite a few years ago), so it will have no effect.
 
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