{"id":102991,"date":"2014-05-29T10:01:51","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T08:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=102991"},"modified":"2014-05-29T10:02:57","modified_gmt":"2014-05-29T08:02:57","slug":"telkom-prices-exorbitant-vodacom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/102991-telkom-prices-exorbitant-vodacom.html","title":{"rendered":"Telkom prices exorbitant: Vodacom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Telkom<\/a> still charges Vodacom<\/a> \u201cexorbitant transmission prices\u201d said CEO of Vodacom, Shameel Joosub<\/a>, during an interview with SABC News.<\/p>\n

Joosub was responding to questions about mobile termination rates (MTRs); particularly about the argument that Vodacom and MTN<\/a> were themselves subsidised by asymmetric termination rates.<\/p>\n

MTN and Vodacom have balked at call termination rate (CTR) regulations introduced by Icasa<\/a> that would let Cell C<\/a> and Telkom Mobile<\/a> charge the larger operators significantly more for placing calls to their customers.<\/p>\n

The larger operators have argued that this asymmetry will cost them as much as R1-billion in revenue and took the matter to the High Court.<\/p>\n

Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko<\/a> countered with an open letter in March 2014, saying that Telkom had subsidised Vodacom and MTN to the tune of R50-billion in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou claim you will be supporting smaller players, but in reality Telkom has subsidised your business for over two decades,\u201d Maseko said.<\/p>\n

Joosub has now hit back in a TV interview, saying that it is not really about Vodacom being subsidised.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember [Telkom has] been charging us exorbitant transmission prices – and still do – for the better part of 20 years,\u201d Joosub said.<\/p>\n

He added that \u201cone needs to look at the full story\u201d before making these types of comments.<\/p>\n