Vodacom, MTN rebuke CUASA

Well, this just confirms it - the cell providers are cut from the same cloth as Telkrap (with the exception of Cell C, who have clearly kept their heads under the radar). Despite all this, if there is one positive thing I have to say about them, it's that their services have succeeded in allowing a larger percentage of the population to be voice-connected via pre-paid, the horrendously high cost notwithstanding...
 
MBS, you are so right.

The question is, if so many people opt for mobile telephony (which is more expensive) why aren't they paying Telkom for telephony at a slightly cheaper rate? Might it be because Telkom is not there where they are? The list can be extended. Mobile phones in this country are overpriced and I think it is fairly clear that they fix the bottom prices for their respective services.

Cheers
Antowan
 
There are two main reasons for the popularity of the pre-paid services, despite the high unit call cost, viz. (1) the mobility, and (2) the absence of a recurrent cost. Very clearly, both of these are premised on a very simple principle (which I wish the marketing morons out there would realise) - reinforcement of basic freedoms. This is also the fundamental driver behind the inexorable success of open source. In the case of mobility, freedom of location has provided a greater chance of success for traders, work seekers, and so on. In the case of the absence of a recurrent cost, this freedom of choice is very relevant to those without a recurrent and constant income, whilst not losing the opportunity to remain connected (ability to receive calls anywhere at no charge to the person being called). Obviously, none of this applies to the Telkrap offerings, which is why they will never be regarded with any sort of favour, except by those with a few Khulisa shares. Getting back to the cell providers, it should be very apparent that they interfere with these basic freedoms at their peril...
 
Two issues:

I would love to know why the interconnection rates charged between the various entities is not widely published. Most probably Telkom would be ashamed of what it is charging Vodacom, and Vodacom would be redfaced what it is charging MTN etc. It would be great for consumers to know how the money they worked for is split by the various telco's.

Secondly: One reason the expensive prepaid is so popular is that even though you don't have money to phone somebody, others can phone you. I'm always wondering which poor sod of an employer is footing the bill when I see the cleaners chatting for hours (or so it seems) on their cellphones.
 
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Oh my ***. I think i am going to vomit if i read another bullsh!t marketing load of crap response. How do these people SLEEP at night when they are obviously lying and obviously talking complete garbage. If i had their job i'd quit the minute i had to face another human being and blatantly lie in their faces. Don't people have morals anymore or is everything about money? Wait, don't answer that...

Cellphone companies can kiss my a@se
 
Hi Guys...

I'm sending the link onto CUASA for their review:
http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/edgar_...047469-04-021706.html#FIS_COMPANY_INFORMATION

The link is Telkom's NYSE/Nasdaq company detail. I've looked through it briefly, but there are a helluva lot of interesting facts and figures about Telkom's shareholding structures as well as their interconnection tariffs with cellular operators...

From what I understand, Telkom pays the cell companies R1.40 to terminate on the calls from a Telkom line onto a cell network. See page 57 on the link for this.

Its there in black and white. The cell companies are scoring in a big way!
 
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