Alan Knott-Craig speaks out on lower interconnect rates

Well worth a read if you questioned Knott-Craig’s current view that interconnect rates should come down. Great that the former Vodacom CEO gave such a comprehensive reply to the questioned we posed.
 
I'm guessing he just wants a clear mind before he goes and sleeps in the night. Ivy wasn't that bad, she was after only human, all humans makes mistakes... :erm:
 
Great interview.

However people choose to look at Alan, the fact remains him talking out is positive in every way. His opinion holds a lot of weight, and the fact that he is promoting lower rates should be seen as a good thing.
 
Good, interesting read.

RPM, why not offer AKC honorary membership to MyBB? I'm sure he will make very positive contributions here!
 
chubster said:
I'm guessing he just wants a clear mind before he goes and sleeps in the night. Ivy wasn't that bad, she was after only human, all humans makes mistakes... :erm:
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What seems to be clear is her hands were tied from above. The government has always been implicit in the current high price regime.

Who knows why. Filling of pockets?

A million here or there can go a long way in making you a billion or two extra.
 
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It is bizarre that cell phone calls are so expensive due to an interconnect rate, yet Telkom only charged 30c all these years. The cellphone companies got free money to build huge networks all these years. I Telkom could charge an extra R1.25, then we would probably have 100Mbps fibre connections to our homes.
 
He says...
It should be remembered that your mobile terminating rate does not translate into profit when they are symmetrical, which they have always been between mobile operators (with the exception of Telkom).
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However... it has been reported...

For the financial year ending 31 March 2009 Vodacom generated R 8 632 000 000 through interconnection in South Africa, up from R 7 945 000 000 a year ago. This is the company’s second largest revenue stream after ‘airtime and access’, and is far higher than the R 5 973 000 000 generated through data services (SMS, MMS & broadband) or the R 5 190 000 000 from equipment sales.
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Yes Mr. AKC... no translation into profit here it is evident to see. Vodacom makes nothing from interconnect fees... you have just said that.

Ignore the men behind the curtain...

More gumph and back-patting here. I am tired of this.

Sigh.
 
rpm said:
Well worth a read if you questioned Knott-Craig’s current view that interconnect rates should come down. Great that the former Vodacom CEO gave such a comprehensive reply to the questioned we posed.
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How come all this comes to light now that he's retired? Why wait this long to publically shout down interconnection rates?
 
This is why ....

One further point, when I ran Vodacom, my primary responsibility for running a successful business was to my shareholders, as was my duty by law. The South African government was an indirect shareholder, but I was not a shareholder in Vodacom.

I worked for a salary and a bonus based on performance. My shareholders dictated the degree of freedom I had. Why do I say this. Because I had no personal huge wealth agenda, as some suggest, and still don't.
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Well at least he is putting people ahead of profits in his old age.
 
mbp said:
How come all this comes to light now that he's retired?
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I guess the need to want to hear the sound of his own voice again. ..?
To prove to himself that he still has some real clout out there. ..?
A need to re-write the memory of his legacy. ..?
To appear to be "our" consumer champion. ..?

Sigh... who knows.

You will probably find he is on a retainer for interested parties needing interconnect rate reductions to boost profit... time will tell.

Spin spin whisky and gin I suffer for my art
bartender I got wild mushrooms growing in my yard
 
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jak3 said:
What seems to be clear is her hands were tied from above.
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Then he could have resigned his position over it if he really had an issue with it.

Words, words, words, excuse after excuse. Quite sickening.
 
of course they made a profit on it what happened to those R1,25. It worked like this If vodacom interconnected to mtn MTN got R1,25 next time mtn interconnects to vodacom so vodacom got R1,25 balances out yes mtn charges vodacom R1,25 and vodacom charges mtn R1,25 and both charged the consumer R1,25 to pay each other this R1,25 (Bull**** saying you didn't make a profit)
 
Theoretically interconnect can be a zero sum game, but if that was the case why on earth would there be any resistance to having an arbitrary interconnect rate – even 0. It is likely that Vodacom with the most subscribers make the most from interconnect, followed closely by MTN. This is also clear from their ICASA presentation – most companies asked for lower interconnect rates, but not MTN and Vodacom.

AKC’s statements: I think one can not blame Alan for serving his company when he was the CEO - he should in fact be commended for it. To say that he could have resigned is not fair or accurate – he may have agreed with most of his company’s policies, but disagreed with one. I am sure it is the same for most CEOs and employees…
 
I wonder why he let the shareholders dictate his life so fiercely?
I mean they almost killed him...
 
I will blame him if serving his company came at our expense. Sure he was a great CEO and made a lot of people rich including himself... but at our expense.
 
rpm said:
Theoretically interconnect can be a zero sum game, but if that was the case why on earth would there be any resistance to having an arbitrary interconnect rate – even 0. It is likely that Vodacom with the most subscribers make the most from interconnect, followed closely by MTN. This is also clear from their ICASA presentation – most companies asked for lower interconnect rates, but not MTN and Vodacom.

AKC’s statements: I think one can not blame Alan for serving his company when he was the CEO - he should in fact be commended for it. To say that he could have resigned is not fair or accurate – he may have agreed with most of his company’s policies, but disagreed with one. I am sure it is the same for most CEOs and employees…
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Yes it isnt really a zero sum game. The truth is it does two things. It artificially keeps prices high which benefits a telco when someone phones within a network. It also puts the competition at a major disadvantage thus maintaining the status quo.

What i found very surprising was that cell c refused to comment on carte blanche last night.
 
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