How to save Telkom: Free the local loop

Se7enty4 said:
Then .. in a puff of logic ..., why don't Telkom do it ???? :mad:
Click to expand...

Ummmmm, 'cos their largest shareholder says no? It will lead to job losses and the loss of control over a "valuable" asset and be less susceptible to state interference!

I think we all agree about LLU - the sooner the better.
 
moggie said:
LLU will not make copper wire theft go away...
Click to expand...

True but an efficient company would have replaced a lot of it with Fiber.

If I was Telkom I would have taken the money I made by selling Vodacom and made sure that a Wimax tower is in reach of every person in this country. Then after that I'll install GSM equipment in the towers and start a mobile network as well.

You would be one of the richest companies in the country.
 
I too doubt the costs involved in maintaining the local loop. I looked at Moggies links but see no real empirical evidence (cursory scan) just a lot of people saying its very expensive. As others have mentioned the lines were paid for years ago (probably in the 30's....) and have been collecting rent every month. Its a cash cow and Id like to see real figures disputing it.
Regardless of pros and cons the late high priestess of Telkoms said that LLU was going to happen in 2011...
 
Ben Kelly, sorry mate - but ask your proctologist to free your mind a bit...

Now woe is Telscum because their lines are being stolen all the time???? What the hell man? Didn't you see the article about all the inside connections and millions being spent on a "system" and "security" to apparently curb the line theft??? Anyone with half a brain knows that Telkom insiders made sure that their own cables get nicked all the time... now "oh noes, it costs them so much to keep fixing the cables, and they're going broke". FFS, wake up already.

Saving Telscum will take more than LLU, stomping out corruption should be priority, employing multi-cellular organisms, THEN LLU - maybe they'll have a chance.

Personally, I'm all for Telkom going belly-up and tossing the country into a total telecomms breakdown... maybe then someone with a little vision can buy it, and get it going like it should.

Nice writing, now start paying some attention.
 
Last edited:
According to recent reports it costs Telkom double what they charge us in line rental to keep your phone connected on a monthly basis and it hopes that you spend enough on services such as ADSL or calls to your granny in Perth to make up the difference...

So what is Telkom to do? One potential solution is actually very easy. Get rid of the problem.
Click to expand...
IMO the problem is most likely that Telkodemonopolies employs too many people that actually don't do enough work and are completely inefficient.

I am hesitant to say that these people should be retrenched - just imagine a new breed of hijackers that hide on wooden poles waiting for a smash & grab or hijacking opportunity to present itself. If anyone is to be retrenched, maybe take a top down approach starting with the pretend-CEO.
 
ic said:
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/columns/14146-Saving-Telkom-Free-the-local-loop.htmlIMO the problem is most likely that Telkodemonopolies employs too many people that actually don't do enough work and are completely inefficient.

I am hesitant to say that these people should be retrenched - just imagine a new breed of hijackers that hide on wooden poles waiting for a smash & grab or hijacking opportunity to present itself. If anyone is to be retrenched, maybe take a top down approach starting with the pretend-CEO.
Click to expand...

Many moons ago Telkom's own employees installed and maintained the cable network (especially the Local Loop).

In order to "cut costs" these activities were outsourced to BBEEE companies.

This did not work, so about 3 years ago Top Management were under pressure to maintain and create shareholder value (read "chase profits at any costs") and they made a decision that was slated by everyone on the ground, viz. to stop all preventative maintenance in the Local Loop.

This has caused the local loop to be in the condition it is today.

So, contrary to the opinion to reduce staff, I would say that Telkom should cancel ALL contracts involving cables and do it all themselves again. Re-employ the retrenched cable techies and re-train "redundant" staff to focus on getting the copper network back to an acceptable standard.

For the older folks living in small towns, remember how well your network was maintained by local techies who lived in those towns? Those techies took a lot of pride in their network and made sure everyone was happy. Now that work is done (poorly) by a contractor from a far away city who does not give a schit about the community being served by that network. To them it is all about the money.

Telkom has also implemented so many fault reporting and tracking systems that it would seem that there are more staff manning and maintaining these systems than there are staff actually maintaining the network!!!!
 
moggie said:
Many moons ago Telkom's own employees installed and maintained the cable network (especially the Local Loop).

In order to "cut costs" these activities were outsourced to BBEEE companies.

This did not work, so about 3 years ago Top Management were under pressure to maintain and create shareholder value (read "chase profits at any costs") and they made a decision that was slated by everyone on the ground, viz. to stop all preventative maintenance in the Local Loop.

This has caused the local loop to be in the condition it is today.

So, contrary to the opinion to reduce staff, I would say that Telkom should cancel ALL contracts involving cables and do it all themselves again. Re-employ the retrenched cable techies and re-train "redundant" staff to focus on getting the copper network back to an acceptable standard.

For the older folks living in small towns, remember how well your network was maintained by local techies who lived in those towns? Those techies took a lot of pride in their network and made sure everyone was happy. Now that work is done (poorly) by a contractor from a far away city who does not give a schit about the community being served by that network. To them it is all about the money.

Telkom has also implemented so many fault reporting and tracking systems that it would seem that there are more staff manning and maintaining these systems than there are staff actually maintaining the network!!!!
Click to expand...
Highlighted there, is one instance where you have made my point for me :p :).

IMO the solution is LLU - share the burden of maintaining the copper with other network operators that are willing to invest the money to do so - there will not be that many that can afford it or get finance to do it, but there will be a handful.

It is in the country's interests that the copper infrastructure be maintained or completely replaced [impractical] with fibre optic.
 
Well, when you do finally achieve something in lets say 40 years, wake me up. I'll be hibernating in my cave till then :)
 
The yanks came in and used Telkom to rip us off a few years ago, made a huge profit when then sold their share back, making an even bigger killing - now do you think this guy is going to do it all over again?

What is happening, is that Telkom is degrading the service, losing customers and trying to milk us to make up for their inefficiencies - a very terminal recipe.

If they just upgraded to fibre properly, sold more services at a palatable rate, they should be able to turn it around.
 
moggie said:
Many moons ago Telkom's own employees installed and maintained the cable network (especially the Local Loop).

In order to "cut costs" these activities were outsourced to BBEEE companies.

This did not work, so about 3 years ago Top Management were under pressure to maintain and create shareholder value (read "chase profits at any costs") and they made a decision that was slated by everyone on the ground, viz. to stop all preventative maintenance in the Local Loop.

This has caused the local loop to be in the condition it is today.

So, contrary to the opinion to reduce staff, I would say that Telkom should cancel ALL contracts involving cables and do it all themselves again. Re-employ the retrenched cable techies and re-train "redundant" staff to focus on getting the copper network back to an acceptable standard.

For the older folks living in small towns, remember how well your network was maintained by local techies who lived in those towns? Those techies took a lot of pride in their network and made sure everyone was happy. Now that work is done (poorly) by a contractor from a far away city who does not give a schit about the community being served by that network. To them it is all about the money.

Telkom has also implemented so many fault reporting and tracking systems that it would seem that there are more staff manning and maintaining these systems than there are staff actually maintaining the network!!!!
Click to expand...
With so many fault tracking systems, why is that the call centre staff write all your problems down (taking their sweet time as well) and then when the techy comes he hasn't and can't see what they write.
 
Tanya35 said:
With so many fault tracking systems, why is that the call centre staff write all your problems down (taking their sweet time as well) and then when the techy comes he hasn't and can't see what they write.
Click to expand...

Faulty interfacing between the systems?

/pardon the pun!

PS. I always insist that they repeat what they have typed into their system when I report a fault!
 
Please don't save Telkom !!!

If they go down, ICASA will be forced to unbundle the LL.

With Telkom having exclusive rights to the LL, nobody else can get involved. Furthermore, Telkom's vision for the local loop is limited to offering telecom services - so much more can be offered once there is real competition.

Surely, at some stage there should be renewal/upgrading of the LL infrastructure to fibre, but with Telkom's stronghold on it, it is not going to happen soon.
 
Last edited:
moggie said:
The problem is that it will cost us consumers more and not less. As per the article Telkom have an access deficit - they are making a loss on the local loop. If the LL were to be sold to another company, that company will have to charge you at least what it is costing them. Ergo - rental increases...
Click to expand...
Farm lines, etc. are probably a big part of the high price of maintaining the LL... limiting copper lines to high-density areas (complexes, apartments and low-theft suburbs) might bring the cost down... (ICASA won't like the idea though...)
 
RoganDawes said:
Customer (ADSL) -> copper (owned by LLU operator) -> exchange (owned by LLU operator) -> <something that is the ISPs problem to organize>
Click to expand...
Fixed

THe problem is that a very small percentage of ISPs will be able to deploy a DSLAM in every exchange... It would probably be a few regional ISPs and a few big players reselling capacity similarly to the IPC situation...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X