Hi guys
I just received a mail that makes for interesting reading. I did not validate any of the facts, so please draw your own conclusions.
"Telkom ADSL - consider these facts:
• Telkom sees fit to charge South Africans $50 per ADSL modem for R 2500 - an 800% mark-up
• Most ISPs in the rest of the world give you the modem for free...
• ICASA will 'test' the modem for R 20 000 for 'compatibility' whilst these modems are made to international (ITU) standards and no-one will make one specially for South Africa with its paltry ADSL take-up numbers.
• This raises the cost to end users without any benefit to anyone except ICASA
• The cost of setting up a new ADSL line on an exchange is approximately US $ 40 per line
• Telkom charges R 460 EVERY time they (re) connect a new user to the exchange
• Telkom complains about the 'high cost' Internet transit traffic yet sees fit to charge R 800 for a ADSL connection and R 200 for the actual IP going through it
• Telkom owns 20% of the new 130 Gigabit fibre optic link to Portugal - yet uses only a fraction of its available bandwidth
• Telkom's CEO has gone on record to say that this new link will be paid back in 2 years - just by telephone traffic!
• Sine the cable is paid back ADSL in Portugal should cost about the same as in South Africa
• ADSL in fact costs about a quarter of the SA cost in Portugal (or anywhere else in Europe)
• Has Telkom considered that Seoul or Tokyo is also far away from America when it comes to explaining why international bandwidth is so expensive?
• Note that India has 50 000 cable TV COMPANIES supplying TV signals - that same TV cable is now providing Internet access in India
• South Africa has 0 (zero) TV cable companies. Even Maputo has cable TV.
• Even though your ADSL line connects at 6 megabits, the connection is 512 kilobit but runs at 50 kilobit (modem speed) during business hours ...
• Telkom has failed to provision sufficient international bandwidth for the ADSL users
• The coming of the SEO will do nothing to change the above - duopoly is not competition.
• All that ICASA and the government end up doing with their regulations is to regulate who gets the profits from an inferior service"
RPM
[email protected]
I just received a mail that makes for interesting reading. I did not validate any of the facts, so please draw your own conclusions.
"Telkom ADSL - consider these facts:
• Telkom sees fit to charge South Africans $50 per ADSL modem for R 2500 - an 800% mark-up
• Most ISPs in the rest of the world give you the modem for free...
• ICASA will 'test' the modem for R 20 000 for 'compatibility' whilst these modems are made to international (ITU) standards and no-one will make one specially for South Africa with its paltry ADSL take-up numbers.
• This raises the cost to end users without any benefit to anyone except ICASA
• The cost of setting up a new ADSL line on an exchange is approximately US $ 40 per line
• Telkom charges R 460 EVERY time they (re) connect a new user to the exchange
• Telkom complains about the 'high cost' Internet transit traffic yet sees fit to charge R 800 for a ADSL connection and R 200 for the actual IP going through it
• Telkom owns 20% of the new 130 Gigabit fibre optic link to Portugal - yet uses only a fraction of its available bandwidth
• Telkom's CEO has gone on record to say that this new link will be paid back in 2 years - just by telephone traffic!
• Sine the cable is paid back ADSL in Portugal should cost about the same as in South Africa
• ADSL in fact costs about a quarter of the SA cost in Portugal (or anywhere else in Europe)
• Has Telkom considered that Seoul or Tokyo is also far away from America when it comes to explaining why international bandwidth is so expensive?
• Note that India has 50 000 cable TV COMPANIES supplying TV signals - that same TV cable is now providing Internet access in India
• South Africa has 0 (zero) TV cable companies. Even Maputo has cable TV.
• Even though your ADSL line connects at 6 megabits, the connection is 512 kilobit but runs at 50 kilobit (modem speed) during business hours ...
• Telkom has failed to provision sufficient international bandwidth for the ADSL users
• The coming of the SEO will do nothing to change the above - duopoly is not competition.
• All that ICASA and the government end up doing with their regulations is to regulate who gets the profits from an inferior service"
RPM
[email protected]
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