2009 Telkom Rates/Tariff Increase

The more I think about it the more “apartheid like” Telkom and the goverment’s business practices seem. They don’t infact look after the needs of the majority i.e. the South African people but rather the minority of investors (government???) and the “already rich”.

Once again another Telkom increase in rates, with much the same non-sense as 2008. According to Telkom…

In these tough economic times, it is becoming increasingly important to keep tabs on your budget. Which is why, when government regulations (the same crowd that own 40+ % of Telkom – Fox watching the Henhouse) allowed us to increase our rates by 4.9%, we insisted on keeping them at only 1.7% – making Telkom the most afffordable way to stay in touch with your friends and family.

What utter CRAP!

Fortunately the day grows nearer and nearer to Telkom and the rest of the telecommunication rip-offs deserved demise. As communication moves from time based to data based and as internet connectivity improves (which is being hampered by all who have a vested interest in Telkom).

Once again pricing rises are highest for the most basic services, the wealthy once again get a handout from the poor.

• Equality is alive and well in the land of overpaid and underworked politicians.
• Telkom needs to hire someone who can do some honest maths.
• Please tell me if your bill increases by only 1.7% as Telkom promises or if it reflects the bullshit Telkom, teh SA Government and ICASA sprout.

2009 Telskum Pricing

2008 Rates Increase

Telkom claims an overall increase of only 2.4% for their 2008 Tariffs. Pity they can’t count… or is it just what Enron called “Creative Accounting”.
Should a government sponsored and majority stake-holding be a “for profit” organisation. And in Telkom’s case, the most profitable monopoly in South Africa.

“Monopolies are terrible, unless you have one!”

2.4% sounds like marketing hype to me. They say they are consumer-centric. They talk as though they are friends to the South African people and yet I see that their profits grow every year and this for an organisation granted a legal monopoly for most of it’s life and to top it off “it was paid for by the South African people”.

Don’t let the bullshit fool you, they are out to make as much money as possible, to the detriment of the general populous.

From past experience although Telkom claim an overall increase of only 2.4% they fail to explain that my overall bill always seems to climb by a much larger margin. How are they calculating this overall increase?

An example: Lets say I have 3 products I sell, A, B & C and they are all the same price. In 2007 I sold 100 A, 200 B and 300 C, in 2008 I reduce the price of A by 10%, increase the price of B by 2% and increase the price of C by 8%. I could say that overall my increase has stayed static, i.e. -10 +2 +8 and yet in reality my operating profit would have increased (-10×1) + (2×2) + (8×3) = 18%.

If you look at the pricing you’ll see that the most basic services have the greatest increase, the largest population group, the poor are hit the hardest once again.

It’s fantastic that international calls have come down but I’d rather have cheaper local calls thanks or even better, free local like in many countries.
Here is an ironic example that shows the discrepancy clearly – I can call London, England for 65c per minute on my Closer 3 account. This is the same cost as if I was dialing Durban and I live in Pietermaritzburg (only 90km away).

2008 Telskum Pricing