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Question of the Day: How impressed have you been with the 2026 Amazon Prime Day deals?
Landmark year envisaged for telecoms
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
friedpiggy
Expert Member
am i a pessimist? i keep seeing this "landmark year ahead" stories and "the future looks bright for sa telecoms" but hey, we had 2 colloquiums last year and numerous other talks etc. icasa did an "investigation" into telcomics pricing and what exactly has happened so far??????
as far as i can tell, we have had no change in priicing except for maybe a couple of R5 decreases. and since its now jan, we have the lovely annual telcom increase to look forward to.
sorry but telcomic has lied to us so many times that unless a law is passed stating that they are only allowed to charge R100 for adsl, i doubt that any of us will live long enough to see them drop their prices to that.
as far as i can tell, we have had no change in priicing except for maybe a couple of R5 decreases. and since its now jan, we have the lovely annual telcom increase to look forward to.
sorry but telcomic has lied to us so many times that unless a law is passed stating that they are only allowed to charge R100 for adsl, i doubt that any of us will live long enough to see them drop their prices to that.
OK - relativity speaking this country has fallen even further behind the rest of the world wrt broadband. Few people can afford to use broadband as it was intended even disregarding the substandard speeds available.
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That is so shortsighted, sure you are while the economy suffers, hosting is almost non existent, content on local web is not even worth mentioning, educational institutions cannot afford enough bandwidth and either dont have any internet access or are forced to limit it. I'm sure the list could go on.JStrike said:
Are you really 'paying' less? Actualy I think we as a country are all paying more because of Telkoms/Doc antics.
Dropping the rentals a fraction, placebo nothing more, all that really happened was Telkom repositioned themselves to make a fortune on bandwidth which in real terms should not be expensive at all.
Your pragmatism is commendable, and we can agree to disagree I am sure 
I firmly believe that the areas where there was some progress and the small benefits that are being realised by the end users get totally snuffed out and thensome by the fact that Telkom was 'allowed' to get away with what it did this last year when it comes to the bandwidth billing policy.
This policy alone flies in the face of everything else that was done as well as the efforts of those that have been trying so hard to make telecoms better for everyone. (regulators, legislators, ISPA, lobby groups, everyone.)
It’s despicable and a move totally against the grain of what everyone needs.
I firmly believe that the areas where there was some progress and the small benefits that are being realised by the end users get totally snuffed out and thensome by the fact that Telkom was 'allowed' to get away with what it did this last year when it comes to the bandwidth billing policy.
This policy alone flies in the face of everything else that was done as well as the efforts of those that have been trying so hard to make telecoms better for everyone. (regulators, legislators, ISPA, lobby groups, everyone.)
It’s despicable and a move totally against the grain of what everyone needs.
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Sneaky : I do agree almost totally with you. But there were improvents in certain areas. Other areas saw a degrading of service (Bandwidth. But even there, you have the option of using Sentech). I would say as a whole (If you look at it in terms of ADSL usage for the heavy downloader), the situation is worse.
But, looking at it differently, the situation is better as a whole (If you look at it in terms of competition, ADSL line rental and bandwidth) Here there was an improvent in 2 categories and a degradation in one. As I see it, we now need to tackle the last issue having has some success in the first two
But, looking at it differently, the situation is better as a whole (If you look at it in terms of competition, ADSL line rental and bandwidth) Here there was an improvent in 2 categories and a degradation in one. As I see it, we now need to tackle the last issue having has some success in the first two
mancombseepgood
Executive Member
ADSL installation times have increased
It now takes longer to have ADSL installed - of the 10 or so I did last year, the latest has taken the longest... the reason? Short of technicians was the last report I got from Telkom. What else happened last year... lets see... local call charges went up to subsidise international call charges. People... we are going backwards, not forwards. Lower prices for broadband... as you said JStrike - it's all relative... the lower prices we have seen do not amount to improvement - it's all relative. Look at the way the rest of the planet has moved... compare that to us and keep it in perspective. What liberlisation lies in store? When will it ever happen - only when Government give up it's iron grip on the cash cow. I don't see any moves in that direction...
And talking about Sentech... state owned... where's the liberlisation?
It now takes longer to have ADSL installed - of the 10 or so I did last year, the latest has taken the longest... the reason? Short of technicians was the last report I got from Telkom. What else happened last year... lets see... local call charges went up to subsidise international call charges. People... we are going backwards, not forwards. Lower prices for broadband... as you said JStrike - it's all relative... the lower prices we have seen do not amount to improvement - it's all relative. Look at the way the rest of the planet has moved... compare that to us and keep it in perspective. What liberlisation lies in store? When will it ever happen - only when Government give up it's iron grip on the cash cow. I don't see any moves in that direction...
And talking about Sentech... state owned... where's the liberlisation?
Are these people smoking their socks or something ?
New technologies will not be employed in this country because Poison says so.... It is such a pity that there is very little Telecoms competition in this country. All the infrastructure is controlled by one company. I want to choose my provider Telkom, and it aint gonna be you.
New technologies will not be employed in this country because Poison says so.... It is such a pity that there is very little Telecoms competition in this country. All the infrastructure is controlled by one company. I want to choose my provider Telkom, and it aint gonna be you.
friedpiggy
Expert Member
sorry to have to say it, but i honestly believe that my greengrocer guy could do a better job as the minister of communications than the current one. at least he stays awake most of the time.
Increasing the cost of bandwidth has a ripple effect, no matter if the price reductions offered by Telkom are targeted at the low end users (1.4gig user majority according to Telkom).
The policy in itself is restrictive to any form of growth whatsoever and it should never have been adopted in the first place (at these inflated prices)
Not to mention that it is exactly the opposite of what is happening anywhere else in the world.
People also need to urgently expel this 'high end user' concept out of their minds once and for all! Especially when we are talking about puny figures like 30 gig or even 200 gigs, it’s a misnomer.
It’s that very same rationale that is at the root of the problem and with that type of thinking we will be third world forever.
The pace at which this is all moving along is certainly not even close to anywhere else and pedestrian at the very best.
There is absolutely no reason to sit back and praise liberalisation efforts when we drift further and further behind the rest of the world on a daily basis. Each day, every day.
We must never loose sight of 'affordable comms for all' and we are not even close. Great cell penetration but if we are honest, mostly prepaid and to recieve calls from other phones one would wager.
When we start catching up and bridging the gap, it will be a different story completely.
Till then it’s all an abysmal failure in my book.
The policy in itself is restrictive to any form of growth whatsoever and it should never have been adopted in the first place (at these inflated prices)
Not to mention that it is exactly the opposite of what is happening anywhere else in the world.
People also need to urgently expel this 'high end user' concept out of their minds once and for all! Especially when we are talking about puny figures like 30 gig or even 200 gigs, it’s a misnomer.
It’s that very same rationale that is at the root of the problem and with that type of thinking we will be third world forever.
The pace at which this is all moving along is certainly not even close to anywhere else and pedestrian at the very best.
There is absolutely no reason to sit back and praise liberalisation efforts when we drift further and further behind the rest of the world on a daily basis. Each day, every day.
We must never loose sight of 'affordable comms for all' and we are not even close. Great cell penetration but if we are honest, mostly prepaid and to recieve calls from other phones one would wager.
When we start catching up and bridging the gap, it will be a different story completely.
Till then it’s all an abysmal failure in my book.
Sneeky : We are not third world. Check out the CIA Fact Book and you will see us in the First World. There are parts of SA that would classify as Third World, but that doesn't make us as a whole third world.
As for cell, what does it matter if it is pre-paid? My maid uses her phone to make calls, and I have seen car guards use their cell phones to make calls. What does it matter whether they use it mainly to make or recieve. That is a result of poverty (which is in turn a result of Apartheid, and will take many, many years to overcome). Given the circumstances, the cell companies have done a bloody amazing job.
I do however agree that the bandwidth policy is bad, and has a ripple effect, not least on our IT industry and the economy as a whole
As for cell, what does it matter if it is pre-paid? My maid uses her phone to make calls, and I have seen car guards use their cell phones to make calls. What does it matter whether they use it mainly to make or recieve. That is a result of poverty (which is in turn a result of Apartheid, and will take many, many years to overcome). Given the circumstances, the cell companies have done a bloody amazing job.
I do however agree that the bandwidth policy is bad, and has a ripple effect, not least on our IT industry and the economy as a whole