{"id":548048,"date":"2006-02-21T06:25:45","date_gmt":"2006-02-21T06:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/548048-telkom-practicing-economic-apartheid.html"},"modified":"2006-02-21T06:25:45","modified_gmt":"2006-02-21T06:25:45","slug":"telkom-practicing-economic-apartheid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/548048-telkom-practicing-economic-apartheid.html","title":{"rendered":"Telkom \u2018practicing economic apartheid\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

He is however, concerned about the fact that these new offerings are only available to post-paid and ISDN customers. <\/font><\/p>\n

Telkom has \u201clost the golden opportunity to seize the moment and has opted to continue practicing economic apartheid,\u201d he said.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\u201cTelkom should ensure that this service is available across the board\u2026 Other than sheer silliness, there clearly exists no discernible reason why [certain] categories of users should be denied the benefit,\u201d he continued.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Mr. Khaas is very critical of Telkom\u2019s service delivery in previously neglected areas (PNA\u2019s). He pointed out that \u2018broadband delayed is broadband denied\u2019 and questioned the lengthy waiting period for fixed lines in certain areas.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\u201cTelkom must announce why it is still taking longer than 15 months to install fixed line telephony in certain areas, even where the LSM is highest and the potential consumption of broadband services greater. Also, by delaying the rollout of broadband in PNAs, Telkom continues to widen the digital divide.\u201d<\/font> <\/p>\n

Mr. Khaas and the SMME Forum have a strong focus on increased broadband penetration, and reiterated the need for improved ADSL provisioning.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\u201cIf Telkom really wants to get closer to its customers, we suggest that it opens its ears and eyes more to what the small businesses and the rest of the consumers need: – access to affordable fixed telecommunications services, especially broadband, ON DEMAND,\u201d he said.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Telkom\u2019s ADSL service is currently around 1000% more expensive than comparable international offerings. This has a direct impact on the local broadband penetration rate which currently sits at around 0.3%. When compared to the OECD rate of around 12% the severity of this problem becomes clear.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Mr Khaas has called on ICASA to ratify the current pricing models and to put pressure on Telkom to do more.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Discuss this article<\/font><\/a> <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tebogo Khaas, president of the SMME Forum, described Telkom\u2019s recent launch of their flat rate telephony packages as a step in the right direction, but long overdue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}