Beware R70/min call charges: Switch Telecom
“The approach from Telkom is to, on short notice, change the cost of a destination to over ten times what it used to be, knowing that it will take time for wholesale customers to find alternate routes and adjust retail pricing,” Switch Telecom CEO, Gregory Massel, recently wrote in a complaint received by MyBroadband.
“In the meantime, [wholesale customers] get screwed for the difference and Telkom pockets the premium,” said Massel.
Massel was complaining about the wholesale rates to certain international destinations being charged at premium prices, even though he said they should not be.
He provided the following examples:
- +44 8 – UK non-geographic – R70.808 per minute. Massel said he gets this at less than R1.00 per minute from an alternate provider.
- +1 205 – USA, Alabama. These are regular USA numbers and should be under R0.10 per minute; Telkom charges R9.267 per min, Massel said.
- +1 205 – USA, Maine. These are regular USA numbers and should be under R0.10 per minute; Telkom charges R9.267 per min, Massel said.
- +1 208 – USA, Idaho. These are regular USA numbers and should be under R0.10 per minute; Telkom charges R9.267 per min, Massel said.
Greg Massel (photo by Rodney Jones)
According to Massel, Ofcom’s regulations in the UK clearly designate the +44 8 number listed above as non-premium national non-geographic numbers.
He also questioned why Telkom charges R9.267+VAT per minute for calls to various parts of the USA that are no different from other parts for which Telkom normally charges R0.041+VAT.
Massel said he has been trying for over a year to get co-operation from Telkom in this regard, starting with a report to its ethics line on 16 May 2012.
“This has been going on for well over a year and Telkom’s fraud and ethics department have repeatedly been made aware of it but maintain that it is normal and acceptable pricing,” Massel said.
Spokespeople for the Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (ISPA) and Telkom were not immediately able to comment.
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