Financial and General Facts
Profit after tax:
2000: R1,540 billion
2001: R1,690 billion
2002: R1,280 billion
2003: R1,735 billion
2004: R4,592 billion (Equates to R12.58m profit per day)
2005: R6,807 billion (Equates to R18.6 million profit per day)
Telkom CEO's salary in 2004: R11.1 million which equates to:
R1,267/hour or
R30,410/day or
R213,461/week or
R925,000/month
Sizwe Nxasana's R11.1 million could keep 183 people employed for 1 year at R5,000 a month.
Employee expenses in 2003/4 include retrenchment costs of R302 million, R244 million, R373 million, R132 million and R303 million in the years ended March 31, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000, respectively.
Telkom Directors were paid R60 million in 2003, one American receiving over R15 million, another almost R11 million, and others between 4 and 8 million. Making that much money isn't a bad thing - when not a monopoly.
Telkom is a founding member of Proudly South African, even though:
- They were managed until end 2004 by Americans from SBC who dictated pricing
- They are contributing to our rampant unemployment by firing 10% of their staff every year - in fact they have almost HALVED their workforce since '99!
- They are the most expensive Telecoms provider in the world [Telecoms Report]
- Over 80% of the population cannot afford their basic telephone service.
Almost 90% of business users have been locked into 3-5 year contracts to stifle the second operator in acquiring customers at startup.
In 1999, there were 61237 Telkom employees, by September 2003 this had been reduced to about 33800 - simply adding to the country's almost 40% unemployment rate and going against Government's promise to curb unemployment.
Exchanges, equipment and lines have been paid for many times over the decades but we are still faced with ridiculously high voice and data charges. Costs for international bandwidth and interconnection are dropping almost monthly.
Vodacom contributed 22% of Telkom's group revenue and 33% in operating profit in 2002/3. Telkom has a 50% stake in Vodacom.
Telkom's shareholders consist of Government 39.3%, Thintana 30% (60% owned by SBC), and retail and institutional investors like Ucingo 30,7% (Sep 30 2003). SBC also has an 8% indirect share in Vodacom via Telkom's 50% share.
[ NOTE: Thintana has sold their shares and ran back overseas with around R9 billion of our money ]
Government and businesses accounted for around 71% of Telkom's earnings in 2003.
XtraTime offers hundreds of 'free' minutes, except that these don't apply to Internet calls, cellular calls, special numbers, operator assisted calls, international mobile numbers or calls terminated on the SNO's network.
Telephony and Voice Call Facts
Growth in prepaid customers slowed to 4% "due to a clean up of all inactive customers."
- Which in corporate speak means disconnecting poor people who can't afford the high prices.
Landlines disconnected due to non-payment/inability to pay: over 2 million
S.A. is the most expensive country for local call rates [R22/hour] (Telecoms Report).
S.A. is the most expensive country for national call rates [R59.40/hour] (Telecoms Report).
S.A. is the most expensive country for international calls, being just under 3 times more expensive than 2nd place (Telecoms Report).
Local call costs rose by 12.5% in 2003, 24% in 2002, 16% in 2001 and 10.5% in 2000.
Cellphone calls are routed between towers via Telkom lines, not through the air from tower to tower, which is a factor adding to the high cost of cellphones.
Data and Internet Connectivity
An Internet Service Providers Association of South Africa (ISPA) report given to the Independent Communications Authority of SA last year shows that Telkom telephone call charges are gradually consuming the overall cost of connecting to the Internet.
The report shows that Telkom's call charges rose from being 59% of the average consumer's combined telephone and ISP bill in 1993, to 85% of the bill by 2003.
According to Internet World Stats, SA's Internet growth increased by 29.2% last year as opposed to Africa's growth of 123.6% and Europe's growth of over 100%
ADSL customers surged 661% in 2004 despite ridiculous limitations and limits placed on the service. As an example, one ISP in the UK - Wanadoo - at one stage received over 25,000 orders per week - this is due to the affordable prices.
Around 50% of a South African ISP's charges are Telkom-related.
Telkom has access to 20% of the SAT-3 AND safe cable even though it only purchased 13% (Total of 27.3Gbps).
ADSL prices for residential users:
192Kbps: R270/mo ADSL line rental + R92 phone line rental = R362 without ISP (i.e. no connectivity)
384Kbps: R359/mo ADSL line rental + R92 phone line rental = R451 without ISP (i.e. no connectivity)
512Kbps: R477/mo ADSL line rental + R92 phone line rental = R569 without ISP (i.e. no connectivity)
1Mbps: R680/mo ADSL line rental + R92 phone line rental = R772 without ISP (i.e. no connectivity)
ADSL prices for business users:
512Kbps: R477/mo ADSL line rental + R122 phone line rental = R599 without ISP (i.e. no connectivity)
1Mbps: R680/mo ADSL line rental + R92 phone line rental = R772 without ISP (i.e. no connectivity)
(Business are barred from getting a 192 or 384k line.)
- In the UK you get 24Mbps uncapped for R100 less than the 192Kbps with no ISP..........
- British Telecom's slowest available ADSL speed is 2Mbps.
Local AND international download AND upload usage is counted towards your cap, whether it be e-mail, FTP, chatting - anything going in or out of your connection.
Schools, Universities, NGO's, charities and the like don't receive discount from Telkom for Internet access. U.S. Universities have up to Gigabit internet connections and free access for students.
NOTE: Our Communications Minister Ivy announced last year that schools will be receiving a 50% discount on internet access. This should be happening this year - but with current prices as high as they are 50% off isn't enough for an educational institution, it should be free, and the public should get 50% off. Thus far nothing much has happened.
.
