Telkom beats Competition Commission

And Telkom manages to deflect another would-be painful blow.
 
That's enough to make a person drown himself in his cornflakes :mad:
 
I can't write anything that won't end up as asterisks...

omg

This is enough to make me go out and push Telkom trucks off the road.
 
Looks like a TKO rather than an outright win

Having read the judgement, the following become clear (to me at least):

1. The decision by the Competition Commission to refer to matter to the Tribunal was set aside (overturned) on technical grounds, namely:

a. It was not done within the specified time period.
b. The Agreement between the Competition Commission and ICASA on matters falling within their joint jurisdiction was not complied with by the Competition Commission.
c. The report compiled by Wits University researchers which was extensively used by the Commission was compiled at a centre which was partially funded by the complainants and whose advisory board included persons associated with the complainants -- this gives rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the Competition Commission.

Point c doesn't mean that the judge decided the Commission was biased, merely that the circumstances might lead a reasonable person to conclude that they might have been biased.

(A question that might be asked is -- apart from Telkom staff and staff of the various complainants, who could be used as experts to provide the evidence necessary of the abuse of dominance complained of against Telkom?). But for now that is besides the point.

The Commission should have acted in a different manner.

2. If the Commission had done its job and implemented the Agreement with ICASA properly, referred the complaint within the time period, and taken pains to avoid any suggestion of bias regarding the "expert evidence" tendered to it, then the referral would have stood, and would not have been overturned.

The one thing that wasn't decided, simply because the court could make a ruling based on 1(a)-1(c), is whether ICASA does indeed have exclusive jurisdiction in such a matter...

I, for one, believe that there is concurrent (joint) jurisdiction between the CompCom and ICASA, but it would have been nice to have a definitive court ruling on the matter.


Disclaimer: I can't say I am not a lawyer (as sadly, I am :D), but I'm no telecommunications law expert. I will claim some expertise in the area of administrative law, which is what this case boils down to being about (excluding the actual substance of the complaint)...
 
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Smeagol668 said:
c. The report compiled by Wits University researchers which was extensively used by the Commission was compiled at a centre which was partially funded by the complainants and whose advisory board included persons associated with the complainants -- this gives rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias on the part of the Competition Commission.
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Thanks for the breakdown, Smeagol :)

One can only wonder who could be expected to fund such research if not the complainants. I suppose ICASA?
 
Another regulatory institution in South Africa neutered!

Balls grabbed by the same government that set up the commission and ripped off with a pair of long nose pliers!

And Telkom sits there laughing all the way to the bank... and jet set holidays in the Comores... and diamond bracelets for their wives and mistresses... all with our money.

And the Government looks at you.. .the consumer and puts up a big bony finger in your face and says "suck it".

what you gonna do about it? :mad:
 
Well all I can say is that well done to which ever idot wrote the laws that allowed Telkom to get away with this kind of nonsense
 
of course telkom wins! the been doing it for years!
 
HakSaw said:
should read And the Government looks at you.. .the consumer and puts up a big fat diamond encrusted platinum ringed finger in your face and says "suck it"....
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sorry, yeah... what was I thinking! :p that sounds more realistic! ;)
 
well, now with neotel here, and wireless taking off, telkom is taking punishment in other ways. now wait until vodacom is sold off, then ull realise telkom - as it used to be - is no more...:D
 
Official Telkom Comment

Telkom is vindicated that Justice Claasen agreed with our arguments to set aside the decision of the Competition Commission to refer the SAVA complaints (and the Omnilink complaint) against Telkom, to the Competition Tribunal. The Judge based his decision on three grounds:

1) The Commission failed to comply with the peremptory provisions of the MOU between the Commission and ICASA,

2) The referral was out of time (after the one year period)

3) The Commission's reliance on a report of the Link Centre created an apprehension of bias, since some of the complainants contribute financially to the Link Centre and the Link Centre's advisory board includes employees of the complainants in the SAVA complaints.

The Judge did not make a decision on the matter of jurisdiction- whether ICASA or the competition Tribunal has the right to rule on competition matters in the communications industry. Hopefully legislation in the process of being amended will give the players in the market clearer guidance.
 
Can the complainants now sue the Compeition Commission, maybe even the commissioners in their personal capacity, for not doing its job properly?
 
Smeagol668 said:
Disclaimer: I can't say I am not a lawyer (as sadly, I am :D), but I'm no telecommunications law expert. I will claim some expertise in the area of administrative law, which is what this case boils down to being about (excluding the actual substance of the complaint)...
Click to expand...

The way you put that forward there was no need for this part... it was obvious! :)

Thanks for the summary.

Garyvdh said:
Balls grabbed by the same government that set up the commission and ripped off with a pair of long nose pliers!

And the Government looks at you.. .the consumer and puts up a big bony finger in your face and says "suck it".
Click to expand...

More of the usual anti government propaganda... tut tut... At what point in that article is the government mentioned? As far as I could read it was the High court that made the decision. Now I'm not sure if things have changed and we now have a government official who presides over court rulings but as far as I was aware the decision would be made by a High Court judge?
 
LancelotSA said:
More of the usual anti government propaganda... tut tut... At what point in that article is the government mentioned? As far as I could read it was the High court that made the decision. Now I'm not sure if things have changed and we now have a government official who presides over court rulings but as far as I was aware the decision would be made by a High Court judge?
Click to expand...

More of the usual Lancelot propaganda! :p Can't you just blame the Government for creating this mess in the first place and getting rich off of us through their shares and interference in Telkom? :mad:

The Hlope issue has just proved to us that the Government IS interfering with the judciary! ;)
 
Garyvdh said:
More of the usual Lancelot propaganda! :p Can't you just blame the Government for creating this mess in the first place and getting rich off of us through their shares and interference in Telkom? :mad:

The Hlope issue has just proved to us that the Government IS interfering with the judciary! ;)
Click to expand...

Well yes you can blame the government for the predicament but I think you will find that the present government had very little to do with the creating of the Telkom monopoly... in fact they are the ones trying to fix the mess!
 
LancelotSA said:
Well yes you can blame the government for the predicament but I think you will find that the present government had very little to do with the creating of the Telkom monopoly... in fact they are the ones trying to fix the mess!
Click to expand...

oh, I think they loved getting rich out of it. they did not hesitate for a minute to take advantage of it.
 
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