http://www.finance24.com/Finance/Companies/0,,1518-24_1643307,00.html
Telkom 'milks' Joe Public
05/01/2005 12:36 - (SA)
John Samson and
Shoks Mzolo (I-Net Bridge)
Johannesburg - In expressing its dismay at Telkom's new tariffs for 2005, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Wednesday accused the fixed-line monopoly of 'milking' poor South Africans to support tourists.
Despite raking in a profit of R2.77bn for the six months to September 2004, Telkom pushed through tariff increases disadvantaging local consumers.
Telkom has made much fanfare of the fact it would only increase tariffs by an average of 0.2%, but a breakdown of the tariff increases reveals that while certain charges have been drastically reduced, residential users are in fact subject to stiff price increases.
With effect from January 1, Telkom increased the cost of local calls and calls to mobile destinations while reducing international destination-bound rates by an average of 28%.
Telkom also increased the cost of local peak calls by 5.5% and increase monthly residential subscriptions by 6.3%.
It seems incongruous that Telkom increased the cost to rent a telephone line, as the number disconnections since 1997 indicates the average person is struggling to afford Telkom's basic charges.
A recent trade union study commissioned by Solidarity shows that Telkom has installed 2.85m new lines since 1997, yet only 600 000 of these lines are still in use.
While outgoing calls to cellular services have risen to R1.89 a minute, calls to Australia, Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, UK and the US now cost R1.70 a minute.
It costs R1.66 a minute to call Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the San Marino Republic, Sweden and Switzerland.
Telkom charges the same rate for calls to neighbouring states such as Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia.
Cosatu spokesperson Advocate Paul Notyawa argued it was obvious that Telkom based its tariff adjustments on tourism and big business trends.
"The message is clear, they are saying to tourists 'come to South Africa, it will be cheaper to call home'. They are continually extorting money from our poor masses to subsidise rich people and others from abroad," he said.
"It's quite embarrassing. It's a continued immoral stand that is prepared to sacrifice poor people for the benefit of people with money."
According to Statistics South Africa, 5.9 million employed people earn up to R800 a month while the South African Reserve Bank said the official unemployment rate is at 28.8% in a country which is home to 44 million inhabitants.
Notyawa said Cosatu will soon issue a statement on points such as the "double exploitation" wrought by Telkom's new rates.
It will also re-iterate its call - to the ministry, phone monopoly and other stakeholders - for a need to explore an amicable settlement that will ensure "our masses as well" benefit from tariff adjustments.
The union federation, which will mark its 20th anniversary in March, is one of the Proudly South African Campaign's founding members along with Telkom and a host of other organisations.
Telkom 'milks' Joe Public
05/01/2005 12:36 - (SA)
John Samson and
Shoks Mzolo (I-Net Bridge)
Johannesburg - In expressing its dismay at Telkom's new tariffs for 2005, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Wednesday accused the fixed-line monopoly of 'milking' poor South Africans to support tourists.
Despite raking in a profit of R2.77bn for the six months to September 2004, Telkom pushed through tariff increases disadvantaging local consumers.
Telkom has made much fanfare of the fact it would only increase tariffs by an average of 0.2%, but a breakdown of the tariff increases reveals that while certain charges have been drastically reduced, residential users are in fact subject to stiff price increases.
With effect from January 1, Telkom increased the cost of local calls and calls to mobile destinations while reducing international destination-bound rates by an average of 28%.
Telkom also increased the cost of local peak calls by 5.5% and increase monthly residential subscriptions by 6.3%.
It seems incongruous that Telkom increased the cost to rent a telephone line, as the number disconnections since 1997 indicates the average person is struggling to afford Telkom's basic charges.
A recent trade union study commissioned by Solidarity shows that Telkom has installed 2.85m new lines since 1997, yet only 600 000 of these lines are still in use.
While outgoing calls to cellular services have risen to R1.89 a minute, calls to Australia, Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, UK and the US now cost R1.70 a minute.
It costs R1.66 a minute to call Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the San Marino Republic, Sweden and Switzerland.
Telkom charges the same rate for calls to neighbouring states such as Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia.
Cosatu spokesperson Advocate Paul Notyawa argued it was obvious that Telkom based its tariff adjustments on tourism and big business trends.
"The message is clear, they are saying to tourists 'come to South Africa, it will be cheaper to call home'. They are continually extorting money from our poor masses to subsidise rich people and others from abroad," he said.
"It's quite embarrassing. It's a continued immoral stand that is prepared to sacrifice poor people for the benefit of people with money."
According to Statistics South Africa, 5.9 million employed people earn up to R800 a month while the South African Reserve Bank said the official unemployment rate is at 28.8% in a country which is home to 44 million inhabitants.
Notyawa said Cosatu will soon issue a statement on points such as the "double exploitation" wrought by Telkom's new rates.
It will also re-iterate its call - to the ministry, phone monopoly and other stakeholders - for a need to explore an amicable settlement that will ensure "our masses as well" benefit from tariff adjustments.
The union federation, which will mark its 20th anniversary in March, is one of the Proudly South African Campaign's founding members along with Telkom and a host of other organisations.
