End to ADSL monopoly in sight?
|
24 May 2006
|
| |
Ana Monteiro
Posted: Wed, 24 May 2006 08:00 | © Moneyweb Holdings Limited, 1997-2006
Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri is expected to introduce measures to increase competition in the telecoms market in her budget speech on Thursday.
Users and prospective users of high-speed internet services delivered via the copper cables that lead into homes (the service known as ADSL) have been waiting for the policy directives which will include introducing some level of competition on the Telkom-controlled last mile into homes since November last year.
At that stage, Deputy Minister Roy Padayachie told a colloquium on telecoms pricing that the directives would be issued within four to six weeks of the colloquium. The country has been on tenterhooks since then, and Telkom has been gearing itself up for competition by announcing plans to beef up its infrastructure.
On May 3, New Zealand’s government made the move to unbundle that country...
|
| |
Recent South African News Articles |
A pay dispute between Solidarity and Telkom will be taken to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, the union said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Marius Croucamp said wage talks between the two parties had deadlocked.
"Solidarity is demanding a wage increase of 8.8% based on the consumer price index of 5.8% plus 3%."
He said wage talks began in March and after five sessions of negotiations the parties reached a stalemate.
"Trade ... |
BlackBerry has surprised the market by announcing that it will make its popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) available to iPhone and Android users.
The move raises the stakes in the mobile instant messaging market, where the cross-platform WhatsApp is rapidly entrenching itself as a market leader.
BBM will be available to iOS and Android users sometime in the southern hemisphere winter and will support version six and higher of the Apple software and v... |
The Advertising Industry Tribunal has upheld a decision of the Advertising Standards Authority, in the process handing a victory to MTN, which had complained that a radio ad campaign by Cell C belittled its popular MTN ZoneӔ prepaid calling plan and its Mahala ThursdaysӔ promotion.
In the Cell C ad, an actor with an American accent stated, among other things: Some people can only make calls from Zone 1 eKasi to Zone 3 for cheaper, only one d... |
Shares in JSE-listed fixed-line operator Telkom are trading lower than what they were a decade ago.
Shares in the company closed at R12.28 yesterday, after gaining slightly, but have since dropped again in early morning trade. The stock is now worth less than it was in March 2003, when it was just above R14.
Telkoms current share price gives it a market capitalisation of R6.36 billion, a fraction of VodacomҒs worth. Telkom used to have a 50% st... |
Telkom Mobile has slashed data prices with the introduction of what it says are offerings that represent the best in-bundle rates in the market.
The operators new SmartInternet and SmartInternet Saver postpaid data plans will be available from Sunday. Consumers can opt for a bundled offer that includes a device, or for a SIM-only option.
The plans come with an allocation of Telkom Mobile data, Telkom Mobile Night-Surfer data, LTE speeds in LTE covera... |
Cell C chief executive Alan Knott-Craig has warned of legal action if the telecoms regulator does not cut mobile termination rates by the end of the year, according to a report on Friday.
"I will use everything in my power to get the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to do its job," Knott-Craig told Business Day newspaper.
"We have to protect our company and the industry. It is also in the interest of consumers."
Mobile terminatio... |
The competition appeal court has agreed to allow Telkom and the Competition Commission to withdraw their separate appeals in the long-running case involving anticompetitive abuses by the telecommunications operator between 1999 and 2004.
TechCentral reported in March that the two parties had dropped their separate applications to the court related to last Augusts decision by the Competition Tribunal to hand down a R449m fine on Telkom for past anticompe... |
Government delays in improving broadband internet access are having a negative impact on the country's economy, according to rankings by the World Economic Forum (WEF) published in a report on Thursday.
In 2013, South Africa occupied 70th place in the WEF rankings of 144 countries, according to their ability to benefit from the digital era.
Rankings were determined on the basis of - among other things - a country's regulatory and business environment... |
Fixed-line operator Telkom has been thrown a lifeline in the Department of Communications proposed national broadband policy, as the operatorҒs vast fibre network will underpin the states aims to fast-track broadband access.
The policy advocates the deployment of wholesale backbone networks by the public and private sector. It notes these will operate on an open access and non-discriminatory basis ғto allow innovation and competition by serv... |
The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday asked the South African Police Service to investigate communications minister Dina Pule, her alleged boyfriend Phosane Mngqibisa, SABC chief financial officer Gugu Duda and SABC CEO Lulama Makhobo over allegations of corruption.
The charges relate to the alleged corruption in appointments made at the department of communications and its entities,Ӕ says DA MP Marian Shinn in a statement. In turn, Pule has descri... |
