Emails to ICASA

Regarding Telkoms upcoming per gigabyte billing and hardcapping of all traffic

Good Day

This email address was taken from the mybroadband website forums regarding the ongoing complaint lodged against Telkom, if it is being used in error I do apologize, if not please add my name to what I hope is a growing list of Telkom customers (hostages) who are saying enough is enough.

The announcement of Telkom’s new ADSL billing structure for November is nothing short of corporate facism flying in the face of both ethical business practices and common decency. Surely Telkom’s decision makers are educated and informed men and women, who well know the benefits our economy could reap from truly unleashing cheap broadband services on Southern Africa, yet they hold back and bite the very hands which feed them forever taking more and more from our hard earned salaries and profits in the name of bottom lines and smiling shareholders.

ICASA, with the full backing of the South African government, must step in and do whatever is necessary to sort this situation out - you owe it to every consumer and small business owner in this country.

Yours Sincerely
Me
 
I have sent through an email, but I will not post it here as it refurs to buisness connections and client related concerns with regard to 1 Nov. I am even considering buying a few uncapped accounts and splitting them between my ADSL clients.
 
Eeeeww... this topic is all sticky.

I sent through a couple emails over the last month or so (more or less on the lines of antowan's format)
 
I had a long chat with ICASA and subsequently sent them a message as requested detailing the complaint i had. I attached the "evidence" which we have all seen of the looming price increase that i could to the message. You can see that when icasa replied to my email with their pathetic excsue they also copied one of the imaginet guys who subsequently gave them gears! I have also responded to their claim that Saix is in no way related with Telkom.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Darren Miller [mailto:****]
> Sent: 04 October 2005 10:58 AM
> To: Molawa Moeletsi; *****
> Subject: Re: SAIX services
>
> Dear Mr. Moeletsi,
>
> Firstly, SAIX is owned by Telkom and is referred to (by them) as "Telkom
> SAIX". There is no distinction between Telkom and SAIX, other than SAIX
> being a division/subsidiary of Telkom. Please see the Telkom SAIX website,
> if you'd like verification of this...
>
> http://www.saix.net/
>
> Also, if you click the menu on the left side of the SAIX website (Business
> /
>
> About SAIX) you will see the following text:
>
> "The South African Internet eXchange (SAIX) is Telkom's answer to Internet
> access in Southern Africa. SAIX is a wholesale provider of raw
> connectivity
> to the Internet for Southern African Internet Service Providers (who sell
> value-added services on top of the SAIX service to dial-up subscribers and
> dedicated customers).
>
> Specialising in the provision of Tier 1 Access, SAIX prides itself on
> being
> the Internet Access Provider of choice to the majority of South African's
> dial-up Internet Service Providers, thanks to world-class networking
> technology, as well as specialist skills who build, manage and maintain
> our
> national and international IP network.
>
> The Largest Internet Access Provider in the Country!!
> The Internet is the fastest growing communications technology today and is
> becoming a key success factor for businesses in local and international
> trade.
>
> Telkom's South African Internet eXchange (SAIX) plays a central role in
> the
> provision of Internet connectivity and we provide access to more than two
> thirds of South Africa's Internet Service Providers.
>
> Thanks to our PoP presence that is unmatched in South Africa, our
> ownership
> of Layer 1 and 2 of the OSI stack (Diginet, Martis, ATM and switching
> infrastructure, SAIX is the most robust and dependable Internet Access
> Service in South Africa."
>
>
> Secondly, to state that SAIX is not regulated is to imply that no VANS
> provider is regulated. Imaginet is a VANS provider. Are we to infer that
> we
> are not regulated by ICASA?
>
> Finally, in ICASA's own findings document on Telkom ADSL, the subjects
> raised in our previous correspondence are dealt with directly and the
> roles
> of SAIX and Telkom are deeply intertwined, based upon ICASA's own
> statements. Please review the information again and respond accordingly...
> and swiftly! This is a matter of utmost urgency for the ICT industry.
>
> Regards,
>
> Darren Miller
> Imaginet Internet Services
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Molawa Moeletsi" <*******>
> To: <*****>; <*****>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 10:35 AM
> Subject: SAIX services
>
>
>
> Dear Sir
>
> I have looked at the information furnished and I have realised that the
> wholesale services mentioned are offered by SAIX . Please be informed that
> SAIX is not regulated and consequently they do not file their services
> price
>
> adjustments with the Authority.
>
>
>
>
> Yours Truly
>
>
> Molawa Moeletsi
>
 
Last edited:
> Dear Sir
>
> I have looked at the information furnished and I have realised that the
> wholesale services mentioned are offered by SAIX . Please be informed that
> SAIX is not regulated and consequently they do not file their services
> price
>
> adjustments with the Authority.
>
>
>
>
> Yours Truly
>
>
> Molawa Moeletsi
>
Click to expand...

WHAT !!!!!!!! Thats it people, ICASA have just admitted to have NO POWER over Telkom SAIX. Government must intervene immediatelly to resolve this issue/discrepincy. Heads are going to roll.

Please inform us Bob when you have any more data on this matter :)
 
Last edited:
Well if ICASA has no control over SAIX as they have just acceded to, then it seems to me that with some smart lawyer on your side that they have just handed in their resignation and everybody can do what they like. I suggest that our journalist friends get informed of this story! ICASA can not only intervene when Telkom asks for it! It would also be very interesting to hear what Telkom's stance on ICASA is
 
Bobb said:
> Dear Sir
>
> I have looked at the information furnished and I have realised that the
> wholesale services mentioned are offered by SAIX . Please be informed that
> SAIX is not regulated and consequently they do not file their services
> price
>
> adjustments with the Authority.
>
>
>
>
> Yours Truly
>
>
> Molawa Moeletsi
>
Click to expand...


Ok now we have a problem...

We have to redirect our efforts to informing the gov of tele.
From this i think it is safe to say that ICASA can't force ISPs (including Telkom) from dropping prices as this would make them run in the red. Since Telkom is regulated and SAIX is not we are going to have to look at them as 2 different companies (i know they are not), and for the moment be looking at Telkom as an ISP and the SAIX as the wholesaler. We have to stop SAIX from changing things on 1 Nov.

Any thoughts
 
Precisely, and if ICASA cannot regulate SAIX than all of these petitions to ICASA are useless. Looks like Nov 1 will go ahead with ICASA's permission. Which actually might not be such a bad thing....... It would prove that ICASA does not have sufficent bite to stand up for the consumer. Now if that is the case than all bets with regards to Telecoms in this country are off and companies can pretty much do what they want because ICASA is powerless to stop them. We need to inform government of this at once. Anyone have President Mbeki's email address ?
 
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MaD has published the notices to the ISP's on Hellkom's website.

The technical briefing at least is on a TELKOM letterhead.

That makes it effectively a TELKOM and not SAIX driven price and POLICY adjustment.


PS: RPM, I wish you a meeting sooner than later with the Telkom CEO! At least will then know a bit more of where we stand regarding Telkom's attitudes.
 
It is my humble opinion that there is something wrong with ICASA's statement. SAIX in my opinion is just another department within Telkom, like any other department such as telephone fitting, transmission, sales etc. with the responsibility of providing and co-ordinating wholesale services. If they were "independent" in their operations, they would / should have been registered with the Registrar of Companies, something which may be the case but something which I have never heard of.

Can anyone confirm this?

ICASA has, amongst other things, the responsibility to protect the consumer, and in this case the consumer is on the down-side of the wholesale provider, i.e. SAIX - why would this not be regulated? It in actual fact is regulated by law in that only SAIX (or is it Telkom?) has access to the undersea cables. This is confusing, to say the least.
 
Last edited:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Darren Miller [mailto:****]
> Sent: 04 October 2005 10:58 AM
> To: Molawa Moeletsi; *****
> Subject: Re: SAIX services
>
> Dear Mr. Moeletsi,
>
> Firstly, SAIX is owned by Telkom and is referred to (by them) as "Telkom

Darren,
Maybe you should direct your email to Paris Mashile or Jackie Manche. Obviously it seems that nobody at Icasa actually knows what is cooking
 
ernstn said:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Darren Miller [mailto:****]
> Sent: 04 October 2005 10:58 AM
> To: Molawa Moeletsi; *****
> Subject: Re: SAIX services
>
> Dear Mr. Moeletsi,
>
> Firstly, SAIX is owned by Telkom and is referred to (by them) as "Telkom

Darren,
Maybe you should direct your email to Paris Mashile or Jackie Manche. Obviously it seems that nobody at Icasa actually knows what is cooking
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will forward it now. I only started communicating with Mr. Moeletsi because he told me that all the other senior managers were away at a conference... *sigh*
 
hey guys lets try to stick to the topic (no pun intended)

We need to help out ppl by showing them what to say.

Like the comments thou but we need more info.

Drop your writen email to ICASA here PLZ
 
Sorry last one before getting back to topic:

This is BS.
On what basis does ICASA differentiate between Telkom and SAIX?
SAIX is just a name that Telkom invented, it does not actually exist.

I am no expert but I just had a look through Telkom’s 2005 Annual report and I am pretty sure that the South African Internet Exchange (aka SAIX) is not listed as a subsidiary of Telkom’s or as a separate company/entity therefore I would have to assume that it is merely a department within Telkom.

I would be interested to know who the ISP’s are contracting with, I bet it is Telkom SA Ltd and not SAIX.

Now back to topic.
 
hmmm, so thats why Telkom is dropping ADSL line rental prices, but upping their bandwidth prices. Bandwidth is not regulated by ICASA at all...

hmmmmmmm
 
Ok now let just go through this one more time for the common man.

The ADSL price increase will go ahead because ICASA does not regulate SAIX. SAIX is not only owned by Telkom but provides bandwidth to them. (Sounds to me like insider trading.) Now for the juicy part, A VANS license would be needed to provide the infrastructure, namely Telkom's network with the necessary content.

Does SAIX have such a license ?
Who would issue that license ?

And the most important question, how can we exploit this fact ?

(I think someone had better split this thread as this little email is going to cause a lot of debate)
 
I replied to the rather terse and pathetic email i got from Icasa as soon as i could. An interesting fact is that most companies choose a particular format for their email addresses, so if you know how one email is structured (Icasa uses the [email protected] Eg:[email protected]) then you can decipher the email addresses of any of the people who work at that organisation. Knowing this i headed over to the icasa website, wrote down all the names of all the chairpeople, managers and the CEO and promptly copied them on my return email.

Check this response i got back when the icasa representitive thought his ass was on the line (he copied all the people i copied to ensure his point got accross!):

Dear Sirs

One of the very last things which I will never ever consider engaging in is to intentionally and willingly misrepresent information. Even in the face of constant pressure and coercion from whatever source I cannot foresee a scenario where I will be departing from a matter of principle. I have adopted this approach before and will continue to do so at present and in the foreseeable future.

Over the last two weeks I have been inundated with calls from various Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to the effect that correspondence had been forwarded to them by Telkom in which the latter purported to be increasing as of 01 Nov 2005 prices of the Bandwidth utilised by the former as the primary input in the execution of their core commercial activities. In the course of our telephonic discussions some undertook to forward me Telkom's correspondence by means of digital mail to which I agreed. Furthemore I also indicated at the time of our telephonic discussions that even though Telkom's core busniness was the provision of fixed telephony services which are subject to regulation I also mentioned that some of their services such as HomeDSL and BusinessDSL are regulated mainly in respect of installation and rental charges.

As already stated, Telkom's core business is the provision of wired telephony services. In addition to that, the entity in question renders data services through its division namely South African Internet Exchange (SAIX). As we are all aware SAIX is classified as a Value Added Network Service (VANS) operator. If my memory were to serve me well VANS Operators including the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are partially regulated attributable to the fact that regulation is only limited to the licencing process to the exclusion of pricing requirements.

Thus, when in my digital correspondence dated 04 October 2005 I mentioned "Please be informed that SAIX is not regulated and consequently they do not file their service price adjustments with the Authority" my brief explanation was only centred around pricing issues to the exclusion of licencing requirements. In the same breath it is unfortunate that the phrase I employed was misconstrued to imply the non-existence of the regulatory framework for both the VANS and ISPs. I must admit that the misconception which might have been created is deeply regretted.

However, whilst I do admit that I am not in any way beyond reproach, what I found equally disturbing judging by the gist of your correspondence is the fact that the correspondence in question bore the hallmarks of sensation-seeking to a point where a grossly incorrect impresssion was created that I am devoid of the most elemenatry and fundamental information pertaining to the Industry which the Authority regulates hence it was concluded that SAIX was entirely not subject to regulation.

I also wish to state without equivocation that I am not in any way indifferent to the concerns raised by yourself and other Internet Service Providers as corroborated by my verbal communication with all parties concerned over the last two weeks. However, as already indicated in the opening stanza of this correspondence, I cannot in any way misrepresent information.





Kind regards




*******

Independent Communications Authority Of South Africa (ICASA) Block A, Pin Mill Farm
164 Katherine Street
Sandton
2146

Tel: *******
Cell No: ******
e-mail: *****@icasa.org.za
 
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