Answer To The Charges

It seems unlikely that Icasa will institute price controls similar to those it enforces on fixed-line monopoly operator Telkom.
Click to expand...

Since when does Telkom have price controls enforced?
 
Freshy-ZN said:
Since when does Telkom have price controls enforced?
Click to expand...
In terms of Telephony (Voice Service), Icasa does indeed have price controls in place on Telkom.
 
kingmonty said:
In terms of Telephony (Voice Service), Icasa does indeed have price controls in place on Telkom.
Click to expand...
the extent to which they are accurately and efficiently enforced is however open to significant doubt - most often due to the chronc shortage of expertise at ICASA and telkom's place as one of the top 10 BS-providers on the planet

just outside the top 10 would be the cell co's with their twisted we-are-benefitting-the-poor arguments while at the same time taking ICASA to court on a technicality to delay the process

vomit
 
Last edited:
Telkom's rates are reulated and they have to submit a basket for approval each year which may not exceed a certain set of percentages for the basket (very complex thing)

ADSL is part of the basket. Telkom started it very high. Now they reduce it each year, leaving the way for them to increase voice much more and still keep within the max increases allowed by ICASA for the basket.

One has to compliment Telkom on a clever strategy to BS the price regulation process!
 
"Even Cell C, the smallest of SA’s three cellphone companies, agrees that regulatory intervention in a competitive market is unwelcome, and used the hearings to urge Icasa not to introduce price controls."

That would only be correct if it was a competitive market ...
 
Cohen then asked Joosub why the operators did not offer the poor a few free minutes, much as the water and electricity utilities did. “Nothing is for free,” Joosub replied. Even the “please call me” service generated revenues for the operators as it usually resulted in a call being made by the party receiving the message, he added.
Click to expand...

This is carp. In first world countries cell operators offer you a bundle of free minutes per month as an incentive to use them as your operator. Guess it comes down to the competition issue again.
 
My opinion is still open the telecoms market and dnt make BEE a requirement for operators entering the market and watch big bussiness roll in. If you were a big international would you invest if you were forced into partering with with someone.
Competition is what we need.
 
They're still making that stupid 'lots of people have cellphones therefore they must be affordable' excuse. If they're affordable why are ARPU's dropping?
 
How can ICASA already have price controls on Telkom if it supposedly has no jurisdiction on Telkom anyway?
 
Has ICASA ever denied Telkom a price increase? Have they ever regulated Telkom to lower prices? If not then they don't have any control over it. Toothless.
 
Skip said:
Has ICASA ever denied Telkom a price increase? Have they ever regulated Telkom to lower prices? If not then they don't have any control over it. Toothless.
Click to expand...
Yes they have actually. Telkom tried to push through a higher than inflation increase some time ago, and Icasa stopped Telkom from going through with that particular increase. In Telkom's opinion, this is as far as ICASA'a jurisdiction over Telkom goes - price approval in terms of its Telephony Voice Services. Incidentally, all the Cellular providers also have to have their Voice Products pricing approved by ICASA. This is also irrespective of an Increase or Decrease. Telkom have been trying to bypass this on many occasions, and indeed will likely try anything to circumvent this in the future. Important: Prices aren't really regulated, there is only an imposed maximum cap which is some or other percentage inside or over CPI. As far as I know, the bandwidth issue in terms of ADSL is not subject to ICASA approval, hence Telkom's continuous claims of ICASA's lack of jurisdiction of Internet Services. I hope this changes in the near future.

Also, I just thought of something. If Telkom is now no longer the monopoly (legally anyway) then technically ICASA cannot impose price regulations, as legally this would go against the interests of a free and competitive market. But seeing as Telkom is using bullying tactics to retain its position as a monopoly (which is now in terms of the law illegal), surely we can challenge Telkom at the Competition Commission as well as ICASA?
 
Last edited:
kingmonty said:
Also, I just thought of something. If Telkom is now no longer the monopoly (legally anyway) then technically ICASA cannot impose price regulations, as legally this would go against the interests of a free and competitive market. But seeing as Telkom is using bullying tactics to retain its position as a monopoly (which is now in terms of the law illegal), surely we can challenge Telkom at the Competition Commission as well as ICASA?
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me ... were do I send my letter of complaint and were can I find the template ;)
 
ic said:
Not sure I follow, if you mean bcos Thabo signed the ECB into law as the ECA, well sadly the ECA is not yet in effect [which more importantly means that the Telecommunications Act is still in effect], and therefore has no bearing until the ECA is declared as being in effect. If you mean bcos !CASA issued a licence to SNOT, and SNOT is a direct competitor to Telkodemonopolies, sadly SNOT has no customers and hardly any staff [as of a month ago or so], and is not actively trading, which all means that there is no direct fixed-line competitor to the de fact guavamint legislated monopolistic beast that is Telkodemonopolies...
Click to expand...
Yeah, but things like offering services on contract only basis, and the excessive charges levied to ISPs when the Telkom charges to its own ISP (SAIX) are non transparent and obviously beneficial to SAIX may well be worth complaining about now. This is something the Competition Commission will be forced to investigate if there is a formal complaint lodged (one by a large ISP would be perfect, and as many others as possible) about this. My thinking is that Telkom are expending all their powers and concentrations on defeating us and other complainants via ICASA, and at this point in time ICASA is a brain dead organisation who actually don't know what to do next. Nailing Telkom with a series of complaints at the Competition Commission will however make life a lot more annoying. I suspect we could probably take the Cellular providers to the same commission on the principle of non transparency. At least the competition commission is in itself a very independent body, while I think most here would agree the independence of ICASA is questionable at this point in time.
 
Last edited:
Also, as soon as SNOT has customers, then the time to start lodging complaint after complaint on Telkom must begin :D
 
kingmonty said:
Telkom tried to push through a higher than inflation increase some time ago, and Icasa stopped Telkom from going through with that particular increase.
Click to expand...
ICASA still let Telkom make an increase though just not as much as Telkom originally wanted. That Telkom is allowed to increase tariffs while reporting massive R8+ billion profits is indicative that ICASA are (currently) almost useless. With those profits ICASA should have either lowered tariffs or frozen them for a long long time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X