Aug 03 2005 07:24:46:130AM
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Johannesburg - Listed telecommunications group Telkom's (TKG) response to the regulator's findings document on ADSL was a mixed bag with the operator calling for a re-look into a specific area it described as "flawed" findings.
Telkom executive for product development Steven White said on Tuesday that overall the company agreed with the document released by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) last Wednesday.
However, White said, Telkom found it shocking that Icasa listened to the lobby groups and other players or "people who have never run a network" and in the process, ignored the firm as an operator.
Icasa received a total of 446 submissions as part of the enquiry into the provision of the ADSL service.
The regulator concluded that the charge for access should be levied at the inception of the ADSL - after which it should be restricted to line rental.
The rationale behind the abolition of levy access charges, was that this rental (ranging from R270 to R480 for householders) posed a financial burden.
White said: "Their argument is incomprehensible and ludicrous. . . we'll contest it," noting that the abolition of the ADSL basic access rental would make it impossible for Telkom to recoup the expenditure on the infrastructure deployment which could therefore put the company in an awkward position of shutting down the service altogether.
"You also have investors and shareholders to consider and 100 000 customers you are serving. What do you say to them?
"You close down because you are not allowed to recover the R1bn you have invested?
"We are unhappy about this. . . it will be impossible to carry on if we aren't allowed to recover our costs," he argued, adding that nowhere in the world is the basic access rental - in some form or another - not applicable.
"What we have always maintained is that this is scalable.
"So with more people signing up we'll continue to see price reductions."
Icasa said it had not received any formal objection from Telkom.
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link to article
Johannesburg - Listed telecommunications group Telkom's (TKG) response to the regulator's findings document on ADSL was a mixed bag with the operator calling for a re-look into a specific area it described as "flawed" findings.
Telkom executive for product development Steven White said on Tuesday that overall the company agreed with the document released by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) last Wednesday.
However, White said, Telkom found it shocking that Icasa listened to the lobby groups and other players or "people who have never run a network" and in the process, ignored the firm as an operator.
Icasa received a total of 446 submissions as part of the enquiry into the provision of the ADSL service.
The regulator concluded that the charge for access should be levied at the inception of the ADSL - after which it should be restricted to line rental.
The rationale behind the abolition of levy access charges, was that this rental (ranging from R270 to R480 for householders) posed a financial burden.
White said: "Their argument is incomprehensible and ludicrous. . . we'll contest it," noting that the abolition of the ADSL basic access rental would make it impossible for Telkom to recoup the expenditure on the infrastructure deployment which could therefore put the company in an awkward position of shutting down the service altogether.
"You also have investors and shareholders to consider and 100 000 customers you are serving. What do you say to them?
"You close down because you are not allowed to recover the R1bn you have invested?
"We are unhappy about this. . . it will be impossible to carry on if we aren't allowed to recover our costs," he argued, adding that nowhere in the world is the basic access rental - in some form or another - not applicable.
"What we have always maintained is that this is scalable.
"So with more people signing up we'll continue to see price reductions."
Icasa said it had not received any formal objection from Telkom.
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