High interconnect fees slammed

GovT - Just not Interested !

Guys all i can say is govt is just not interested in lowering telecom's costs in this Country.

GOVT - Closed down the Scorpions
GOVT - Made Jacob Zuma President
GOVT - Released shabir sheik
GOVT - Ran a racket with the arms deal
GOVT - Takes firearms away from law abiding citizens and hands to criminals

BUT

They cannot control the goliaths of the Telecoms Industry,

THEY don't want to lower Interconnection Rates !
MTN - VODACOM - TELKOM

Want to know why ..........................................................

Almost every parliment member has bought BEE shares in these companies with monies they have scammed.

GOVT has a lot to lose if the New Companies thrive.

I watched a documentary on a FRENCH24 channel just an hour ago.

Rwanda does not have decent home's for the people,

But their ICT is booming. Fibre optic cables are being laid everywhere.

When the reporter said the words :

Will Rwanda become the Singapore of Africa.

I felt so sad for myself here in SA.

http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php/photo/11320/ppuser/17492

DXL - Team
 
This was raised in Parliament when ICASA presented its strategic mandate to the portfolio committee on communications two weeks ago – an ANC MP asking:

“On the issue of inter-connection Mr Mashile had indicated that it was driving costs. He knew what ICASA had attempted to deal with it but he wanted to know the outcome of this attempt.”

The ICASA Chairperson responded:
“When it came to the interconnection, the problem was the cost of communication. The difficulty in ICASA imposing interconnection related to Chapter Ten of the ECA. That process was so elaborate that it was very difficult for ICASA to take a decision, to the point that it would take years to come to a solution. Perhaps the Act should be amended because the Act could not be implemented as intended. This was something that ICASA was currently working on and in a month or so a proposal for the amendment of the Act would be submitted. A question could be asked why this was being done when a new Telecom Act was about to come into play.”

ja.well.no.fine
 
MTN, Vodacom, and CellC have simply become the "new" monopolies, protected by an interconnect rate that's making them all stinking rich.

Let's assume that interconnect rates can easily drop 50% without anyone going bankrupt.

Ask yourself the question. If you were Vodacom, would you look favourably on ANY initiative that intends to drop your BASELINE revenue by lets say 50% ?

Not really. Understand why it hasn't happened yet. People are getting PAID, to keep interconnect rates high.
 
Gatecrasher said:
That is because the German Telco is not the one charging the exorbitant termination fee. Bet you can't make the reverse call for the same price.
Click to expand...

You can on call2, for exactly the same rate. So, MTN charges less than R1.25 /minute to terminate the call. Note, Vodacom is about R1/min more expensive
 
I have posted many times on this topic and am pleased ISPA has woken up to take a public stance. This is the single biggest issue needed to fix our telecoms in SA and if we can all focus and lobby, we can make a change. It is not only ISPA but Cell C and Virgin that will be able to be truly innovative if they are allowed to make cheapers calls to the larger operators

It is ridiculous that price-conscious cellphone users now have to carry 2 or 3 sims around and swap them all the time to avoid making calls across networks! Such farcical behaviour is always a sign of industry excess!

I also think Alan Knott-Craig should feel ashamed for masterminding this high interconnect in the first place. Although he talks of himself as the industry champion and innovator, his move in this particular respect is an embarrassment to the country. I hope he now has the courage to speak out and correct this, and fix his legacy.
 
entrepr said:
This is the single biggest issue needed to fix our telecoms in SA and if we can all focus and lobby, we can make a change. It is not only ISPA but Cell C and Virgin that will be able to be truly innovative if they are allowed to make cheapers calls to the larger operators
Click to expand...

Agreed. If ICASA can make a difference, it's here. Unfortunately for them, the current formulation of Chapter 10 of the ECA requires them first to prove that MTN and Vodacom have SMP (Signficant Market Power, with > 35% of the market each)

We all know that's the case. They know that's the case. However, there is nothing that forces MTN and Vodacom to open their books to ICASA so that they can prove it. Yet another case where the detail in one of our otherwise excellent laws obstructs its own objectives.

Only once they have done that can they force MTN and Vodacom to drop their interconnection rates. If these two drop their interconnection rates, the rest will follow.
 
entrepr said:
I also think Alan Knott-Craig should feel ashamed for masterminding this high interconnect in the first place. Although he talks of himself as the industry champion and innovator, his move in this particular respect is an embarrassment to the country. I hope he now has the courage to speak out and correct this, and fix his legacy.
Click to expand...

A few years ago, senior representatives of all the MNOs were at a conference. I put this specific question to him, quoting the same facts that are quoted in the article, namely the lower cost of servicing a cellular subscriber than fixed ($300 versus $1000 PU), and the vastly larger market than originally estimated and asked him how he could justify charging 5 times as much as the "evil" Telkom.

He burbled on about the high cost of rolling out 3G as a further justification. No one was convinced. In reality, I suspect that they spent money installing 3G equipment simply because they had so much it was embarrassing, and they had to do something with it!
 
Some things you all don't know !

Just thought i should share something important with you all !

Did you all know that MTN & VodaCom's Mobile Cellular Licence expired in 2009.

Did you all know that ICASA was not obligated to renew that LICENCE.

Did you all know that ICASA could have easily traded 10c per minute Interconnect Rates for Renewal of their Licence's.

Do you all know that they would gladly have accepted it beacuse of the value of their Networks.

Their Stable or fixed monthly income from it.

Their Networks are Freehold Current Debt pays off within the Financial year to drop the TAXES.

Why did ICASA not use that against them.

Why ............................................................


DXL - Team
 
DXL said:
Did you all know that MTN & VodaCom's Mobile Cellular Licence expired in 2009.

Did you all know that ICASA was not obligated to renew that LICENCE.
Click to expand...

Did you know that MTN and Vodacom have been granted (as were 542 others) an IECNS and an IECS license?

Did you know that we now have an ECA, and a Mobile Cellular Licence as issued under the Telecommunications Act no longer exists?
 
Only thing worth slamming these days is your finger in the door, at least that way you are bound to get results...
 
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