Interconnect agreement concluded

The point is we still pay R2.89 per minute to call another network in ZA and pay R2.90 per minute to call Australia,US,UK ect ect.

Its a disgrace to South Africa.
 
Rats are smelling Terrible

So phoning molbile from Telkom should also come down a little???

The smell of rats are still strong.... acutally getting stronger...... I also do not trust this lot:sick:

I have to agree. Their is a terrible stench in the air.

Smells like Vodacom once again have won their battle.

Rates were supposed to come down to 60c per minute from 1 November.

Firstly we have gone higher to 89c per minute.

Secondly the reduction date is gone to 1 Feb 2010.

Actually smells like Vodacom have agreed to give Mr Nyanda a few millions.

We need that 15c per minute Interconnect Rate.

Cell-C needs to push harder for lower Rates.

Vans , Neotel & Cell-C needs to let the minister know that Vodacom is holding them back from offering lower call rates.

This is only going to get Ugly.

Ismail Vadi where are you when Mr. Nyanda is agreeing to higher Termination Rates.

Vodacom has realised that they will be losing more than a R1 Billion a year so lets just pay a R100 million to Nyanda to keep things sweet.


ICASA is useless.

DOC is showing it's also useless too now.

I wonder where do we go from here now.

Vodacom has really got this Country by the balls.

:mad:

DXL - Team
 
For Vodacom and Cell C this cut will be implemented on the 1st of February 2010. MTN has agreed to lower its’ interconnect fee by the 1st of March 2010.

I am most upset with the February date. :(

Why can't they do it right now? :(

Well, well, well! But after all their nonsense for me seeing is believing.

They just have to milk the festive season trade for old time sake! :(

And why must MTN go a month later? :mad:
 
Interesting that John Holdsworth didn't know about this when he presented at the MyBB conference in the morning - I guess he's not as close to the Minister as he'd like to be...
Seems he wasn't aware at all but I have to agree that he did state that the way discussions were going it was never gonna be this christmas
 
Well yesterday we were at the situation of no change in interconnect rate until ICASA completes the chapter 10 process of the ECA, ie June 2010. So this is an interim step in the right direction. I just hope ICASA doesn't see it as an excuse to take their foot off the pedal. Parliament needs to keep ICASA suspended by the short and curlies.
 
How can the off-peak rate remain at 77c but the blended rate drops from R1.00 to 78c?
 
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How can the off-peak rate remain at 77c but the blended rate drops from R1.00 to 78c?
they cant just give in all the way... they have to continue milking somewhere..

but guess what?! the pricing on retail cell calls WILL NOT COME DOWN just yet.. you will need to wait until June or so..
 
so when is all the prices going up to compensate for the loss of income?
 
People, NOW is the time to STAND together and VOTE with your wallets.

Terminate all your vodacom and mtn contracts, and go with cellC.

And those of you who whine that it is a schlepp to change this and that, just do it, otherwise we will NEVER win this war.

War is hell.

If we don't stand up together in this, things will never change.
 
How can the off-peak rate remain at 77c but the blended rate drops from R1.00 to 78c?

Rather than just being a case of not being able to do arithmetic, this may give a clue as to what is actually going on in the background. The mention of the blended rate is not aimed at their victims (other operators, customers), but at their shareholders, which they seem, inexplicably, to value more.

The blended rate is not actually offered to anyone in the market (that would be too simple). It's the actual average income per minute that they receive from interconnect, including calls at peak, off-peak, and community pay phones (6c) - regardless of how they've tried to blur the facts in the press statements. Analysts need this info so that they can adjust their forecasts, which directly affect the share price - the only number that any of these guys ever, ever really care about. Hence, going from, say R1.00 blended to R0.78 blended means that they will get R780 million for every R1 billion they got before. Neat, hey?

What is really nasty about this latest change is that this blended rate is EXACTLY the same as the previous one they offered (the last attempt, which was firmly rejected by the ICASA, Patricia de Lille etc). They've lowered the peak rate more, but they've kept the off-peak the same, so as not to damage the blended rate. Hence, you will notice that there will now be essentially NO CHANGE in their share prices, but everyone else has been duped into thinking we're much better off. Again, neat.

Fortunately, the net effect for most will be positive. In summary:

  • Other operators that don't have community pay phones will see lower interconnect pricing on average - probably 30% drop in actual invoices
  • We may actually see fixed to mobile rates drop, but don't expect too much change from Telkom, because they're just like these guys under the skin, and are targeting their share price only (if they don't say too much in the next few days, their share price might actually drop - just watch)
  • Sadly, the biggest loser in the end is certainly going to be Cell C, since they have to offer the same interconnect rates (note the symmetry), and will be under the same pressure to lower retail prices, which is going to damage the business further
  • MTN and Vodacom will introduce lower LCR prices to undermine all this, probably in December (who says it's not possible to make quick changes?)
  • Nevertheless, with more value being driven out of the voice market (analyst speak), consumers will benefit eventually, and more small players will be put out of business, though expect attempts from the big guys to claw back the money somewhere else (e.g. not lowering data prices)
 
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[*]We may actually see fixed to mobile rates drop, but don't expect too much change from Telkom, because they're just like these guys under the skin, and are targeting their share price only (if they don't say too much in the next few days, their share price might actually drop - just watch)

There will be a fluctuation regardless of the MTR as they announce their interim results on 23 November; expect a cautionary notice any time now!! Then see their share price...:(
 
Sadly the politicians have been tackling this issue from the wrong end again......most of the population are the users that really need a break namely the pre-paid users (R2.80 plus) The networks are still laughing as their pre-paid margins are where the real money is at... not the contract users.... Am I on track here ?
 
Sadly the politicians have been tackling this issue from the wrong end again......most of the population are the users that really need a break namely the pre-paid users (R2.80 plus) The networks are still laughing as their pre-paid margins are where the real money is at... not the contract users.... Am I on track here ?
Not at all.
This is the correct approach.

High interconnect fee's mean that competition is stumped and not allowed to grow.

For example: Cell C has say 10 000 clients and needs to connect to Vodaspam, with Vodaspam's 20 000 000 clients.

Those 10 000 Cell C clients will mostly be calling Vodaspam clients, so Cell C will for the far majority of calls be paying interconnect fee's to Vodaspam

So, all Cell C are doing is making Vodaspam richer, while making very little, if any, profit on their 10 000 clients. This means that Cell C cannot effectively compete with Vodaspam.

When competition is not allowed to thrive, the prices will not come down.

These interconnect fee's are the stranglehold on true competition.
 
I agree 100% Correct......

People, NOW is the time to STAND together and VOTE with your wallets.

Terminate all your vodacom and mtn contracts, and go with cellC.

And those of you who whine that it is a schlepp to change this and that, just do it, otherwise we will NEVER win this war.

War is hell.

If we don't stand up together in this, things will never change.

I agree 100% Correct......I have done my part.


DXL - Team
 
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