Telkom responds to ADSL media reports
BEGIN
“ISP’s and consumers in South Africa are generally extremely happy with the changes Telkom made to wholesale ADSL Internet connectivity.
This is contrary to the statements made by Mr. Muller after Telkom clarified these with him and several members of his entourage at the MYADSL/BIT Broadband Conference held at STH, University of Johannesburg. Telkom would also like to clarify that it never charged R7 per gig for ADSL. ADSL accounts were sold in 3gig accounts until 1 November this year. ISPs can now sell anything from 1gig accounts up, depending on the needs of their customers. ISPs are therefore now able to create their own packages to suit the environment in which they operate. For example if most of their users only use 1gig per month, they can sell them these accounts instead of selling them 3gig accounts. This way the end-user and the ISP saves money.
Telkom is not the only wholesale ADSL Internet access provider in South Africa and with the introduction of usage based billing it has extended the competitive environment for other wholesale ADSL Internet providers who have widely announced their intentions to actively pursue this market.
From 1 November Telkom no longer hard capped wholesale services bought by ISPs, this is directly in line with Telkoms active participation in forums, communication with ISP’s and a recommendation from ICASA. Mr. Muller’s six thousand MyADSL members also expressing their overwhelming support of this change in that 85% voted in favour of an ADSL usage based billing strategy, according to a poll done on the MyADSL website.
ISP’s now manage ADSL Internet sessions previously done by Telkom and in this provide ISPs flexibility to provision ADSL Internet services specific to each individuals user’s requirement.
Fraudster ISPs feel the brunt of the new usage based billing system
ISPs not happy with the new billing methodology are currently addressing the matter with Telkom.
The reasons for their unhappiness comes from them purchasing 3Gb products and selling these to unsuspected end-users as 30Gb products. The simple comparison to this is buying one original movie on DVD, making 9 copies and selling 10 movies as originals to unsuspected buyers.
Mr. Ferreira from DotCo quoted in several articles the industry is being crippled by "price increases" and that he bought 30Gb accounts from Telkom at a price of around R600. The facts are, DotCo bought 3Gb accounts from Telkom at less than a third of the price quoted and sold these 3Gb accounts as "30Gb" accounts at more than double the price of the average ISP in South Africa. These actions by a very small portion of ISPs that constitute less than 5% of end-users directly affected the cost of bandwidth in South Africa in the same way piracy affects the music and film industry. The rest of the industry is experiencing the change as a reduction in cost and a move towards bigger, better and faster broadband penetration in South Africa.
End-users are urged make contact with their ISPs for accurate information.”
END
Loading ...