Telkom killing local IT industry

[kaspaas]

Hi,

I'm in the local webdevelopment industry.

Telkom had the "Local is Lekker" slogan once upon a time.

The reality is that Telkom's rate structure does not promote the local internet - in fact it is destructive to all Internet growth and places South Africa on a dangerous edge along the digital divide.

Bandwidth costs are of the highest in the world.

The cost of ADSL compared to other is well known. On this forum it has been shown many times that it is not the cost of International Bandwidth that is the primary cost driver of ADSL, but the cost of the local connection at you exchange to get ADSL activated.

Similarly - if you want a "professional" Diginet connection, the cost of the connection to the local exchange is a major cost driver.

If Telkom wants to assist in the future of this country, it would provide products that would enable cost effective Internet connectivity.

Not only for ADSL and Diginet clients, but also for ISDN and normal dial-up clients.

Many Web based products currently don't have a future in South Africa simply because the demand is too low. The demand is not too small in terms of users, but in terms of user activity on the web. The bulk of South African users are dial-up users who count seconds to minimise online Telkom bills.

You don't have to be the greatest business mind in the world to realise that the longer people stay online, the bigger the demand for local services, and the better the economies of scale for local web publishers.

I'm using ADSL at 2 companies. According to my logs, very few international sites are visited - mostly South African sites. Employees have free access to the net before and after work as well as during lunch.

What we need is are Telkom bundles where all local calls are include during "Call More Time" as well as a bundle where all local calls are included at all hours.

The "R7" (or what it is called) is a useless lollypop to wipe away industry tears. I had too many complaints by users that Telkom is not able to maintain a call during those hours long enough for the service to be economical.

This will increase the amount of Internet usage and will grow the local market. The bigger the local IT industry, the bigger the demand for bandwidth. And the more sales to Telkom.

I do hope somebody at Telkom read this and does something about it.

Please Telkom, Help the local IT industry to create more jobs by providing cost effective solutions to all: ISP's as well as users - large and small.





South Africa needs World Class Broadband at World Competitive Prices.

 

[guest2013-1]

I agree, lets hope the world doesn't end before that ever happens

 

[eagle]

I agree 100% with this. I need 24/7 access for business purposes. I am working from home and absolutely NEED the connection. I do have the R7 call option, BUT that is only in callmore time. So for the rest of the trime I pay normal tarrifs. It is nothing new to get a phonebill for between R2500 and R3000 p/m!! Telkom cannot even give me a date when ADSL will be here. For the Satelite service one must sign a contract for 3 years and wireless service from Sentech will also not come here very soon. My solution is for TELKOM to give a flat rate to analogue dial ups as well. They definitely know the 086 number ) I do not need the speed I need an economy rate!! But well I suppose the share price will tumble and nnot one of the hoi polois will get there bonus!

 

[paf]

Well said, and I think there is another aspect.
SA has some potential for providing some offshore outsourcing IT services. Skills are there and we have the competitive advantage over places like China and India of being virtually in the same time zone as Europe.
But that requires amongst other things readily available and cheap bandwidth.

 

[MaD]

As on ITWeb:
"[Telkom's] latest annual report shows that the nine executive directors were paid a total of R59.05 million"

"During the year Telkom achieved a net profit of R1.63 billion"

"CEO Sizwe Nxasana received a total of R4.03 million for the year. That included a performance bonus of R1.72 million and fringe and other benefits of R747 792"

But you know what, even poor people have to pay the R60 line rental, and the same exhorbatant prices like the rest of us, what about them? The government has been promising them houses, running water and all kinds of things since 1994, and now the poor are still where they were 10 years ago. Telkom's prices keep rising, and the financially disadvantaged people must fork over a minimum of R60 a month to our beloved parastatil.

We all know bandwidth is a rip-off in SA, but consider that the ANC was full of promises before the 94 elections about uplifting the country and improving the lives of the poor. I doubt charging poor people 60 beans a month is a way of uplifting their lives.

<u>Even if Telkom halved ALL their prices on EVERYTHING their shareholders would still be laughing all the way to the bank.</u>

Then it would read:
"[Telkom's] latest annual report shows that the nine executive directors were paid a total of R29.52 million"

"During the year Telkom achieved a net profit of R815 million"

"CEO Sizwe Nxasana received a total of R2.015 million for the year. That included a performance bonus of R810 000 and fringe and other benefits of R373 896"

They'd would still be able to pay their rent, no?

Sizwe Nxasa-tithead earned 4 times as much as the President this year...........

<u>.......................................................................................</u>
<b>Just imagine where SA would be now if it weren't for Telkom</b>

 

[Mux]

I was biting hard on my teeth not to comment, but it hurt and well, here it is.
With massive incentives like these, why would they drop prices? They are more than happy with making huge profits! Why worry about those investigating regarding the arms-deal? Let it rest....focus on where we the public and the country is really getting damaged and held to ransom. The damage to the country as a whole is far more impacted by the current pricing structure, not to mention the 'bonus' allocations. It is very sad indeed. Scorpions, go for the big fish and leave the sardines alone.


You don't know what you don't know.
Mux

 

[uitlander]

When I came back to South Africa in November last year, one thing that struck me was the cost of Internet access here. In the UK, where service-providing shops are generally expensive, web-cafe rates were a bit cheaper than in South Africa.

I used to goto a major web-cafe chain, where I used to buy tickets for 10 pounds. The ticket would expire after a month, or when 10 pounds' worth of Internet access had been used (whichever came first). The rate at which the ticket was charged against depended on how busy the shop was, and what the web traffic was like. The most I paid there was 1.65 per hour, and the cheapest was a measly 14p (about R1.55) per hour!

This is possible because of cheaper ADSL rates and higher caps in the UK.