"....prices for South African users reduced by approximately 70%"

"Since the introduction of the Sat3 cable to the market in 2002, international bandwidth prices for South African users reduced by approximately 70%," spokeswoman Lulu Letlape told the BBC News website.

Anyone seen this price reduction this article on the BBC refers to???

In case you are curious about the statement made by Lulu Letlape of Telkom (as I am), you can email her on [email protected]

No wonder it always stinks in South Africa (Smelly). Its all the BSh@t the PPL talks to justify theire corporate theft of consumer earnings! or maybe it my upper lip of all the vomit when I hear such monopolictic pig comments

After VOIP was legalised, telkom had to drop their international calling rates (by about 70% if I remember correctly). Perhaps they are referring to this?

does the BBC know about MYADSL ?

WTF??!!!

Come on Telkom, please!! What were the bandwidth prices when you started ADSL and what is it now?!! *FUMING*

Shut up you bunch of idiots! You are not fooling ANYBODY!!

70% reduction in international bandwidth my ar$e! How long will they be allowed to keep on lying and lying to everyone. The public need to know this!

andres101, its a good point you raised and made me go back to re-read the article:

There is only reference to 'internet' & 'access' and even the paragraph before (which is related to Telkom South Africa) Telkom's Lulu quote mentions "big difference to internet connections", so I don't believe this quote can be linked to reduction in TDM based voice calls.

Require a public clarification of this statement I think, can MyAdsl perhaps make a direct request to Telkom/Lulu for and explanation please.

Anyone remember what ISP prices was in 2002/2003? If you do please post it. I

Theres a section at the end of the article where you can offer comment .
Please do.

The comment made by Telkom is an outright lie. There has been no reduction in international bandwidth in SOuth Africa yet. In fact, in some cases since 1 November 2005, some international bandwidth prices has actually increased by more than 600%

My comments

Weak

Absolutely Weak

What they mean

Is that Telkom now pay 70% less, not the public.

What the mean...

The quote by Lulu, clearly states:

"international bandwidth prices for South African users reduced by approximately 70%"

USERS, being the key here, implyin users get the reduction, passed on by Telkom

9000 members....

bottom of article:
"Are you reading this article in Africa? How good is your internet connection? Are you looking forward to Eassy? Have connections in West and Southern Africa improved with the new cable? Use the form below to send us your experiences."

looks more like the bbc is trying to set the esteemed minister up by making her eat her words...help them in their quest..

Sent a lengthy comment.. lengthy..

ditto, with links to Hellkom and MyAdsl.

edit: and welcome Mohapi

Hi guys

We have contected Telkom regarding this statement and are awaiting feedback from them.

Regards,

RPM

Short, well-worded comment sent.

Short sweet and Simple:


One must realize that Telkom is a monoply. They own the landing rights for the so called "Sat3" cable in South Africa. No other company or Parastatal has access to this directly. They must go through Telkom.

Secondly Telkom uses underhand, anti-competitive and non-consumer friendly methods. They use methods of propganda to influence the masses who do not understand the telecoms environment. In the last 2 years Telkom has not released a truthful statement. Anything and everything Telkom say is a lie. The reason I say this is because there is an abundance of evidence that prooves them wrong. Telkom state that the cost of internet connections has decreased by 70%. It may have decreased by 70% for their bottom line. But to the consumers it has risen 600% from 1 November 2005. It is easy for Telkom to say that the Internet Connections has decreased by 70% in cost. It does not say that this cost saving has filtered through to the customer. Yet Telkom ambigously allow everyone to assume that this is the case, which in fact is not true.

You probally wondering "Why hasn't anyone sed anything???". Well in South Africa there are a number of Governing bodies which monitor this type of "anti-competitive" behaviour by the Telecom Monoply.

1) ICASA (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa)
2) Competition Commision
3) ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association
4) Department Of Communication

To Date none of these Governing bodies have done anything to rectify the situation. Reason being is that the South African Government owns a 37% Stake in the Telecoms Monoply Telkom. Therefore by increasing competition in the market they are affecting the bottom line of Telkom. It turns into a Conflict of Interest. Another contributing factor is corruption. 1 Official from ICASA was caught red handed and dismissed.

There are activist groups out there (Evidence can be found here):
www.myadsl.co.za
www.hellkom.co.za

To Date Telkom and Government officials are not consumer centric. They are only worried about profits and not service. Without international pressure the Digital Divide will get bigger. Pricing will stay the same. Inevitably there will be no such thing as broadband, or broadband penetration.

No word from Telkom yet?