SMALL CAPE BUSINESSES WIN BROADBAND BATTLE

Yay! One for the little guys! Having said that, I am thoroughly disgusted at what for me, is tantamount to theft! Theft in the worse possible way - that Telkom, who is a giant and in a position to dominate, would 'steal' like this from the little guys is absolutely reprehensible! They should be taken to task, by Government - since that is who owns them and they should be forced to treat all 'small business' the same and in fact they should be forced to refund all those that they have 'stolen' from too!

Small Cape businesses win broadband battle
Ronnie Morris

24 November 2006 at 06h00

Cape Town - Small businesses, hampered by Telkom's insistence that they use a more expensive digital subscriber line (DSL) service as opposed to cheaper options used by home subscribers, have won a victory after competition commission scrutiny.

"price discrimination"
This came after the Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported Telkom for engaging in "prohibited price discrimination" by a dominant firm.

Chamber president Janine Myburgh said the chamber was concerned as broadband was vital to businesses.

A spokesperson for the chamber said it was informed by the competition commission this week that Telkom had capitulated. The firm was a national operator and costs of broadband services would be adapted countrywide, he said.

Residential and business differences
The commission told the chamber that Telkom agreed to supply its cheaper service to businesses at the same cost as it charged home subscribers (R245 a month). The cost of the business service has been cut from R800 a month to R362.

While welcoming Telkom's change of heart, Myburgh was concerned about Telkom's practice of charging a normal line rental and adding a second and higher rental for the same piece of copper wire when the service was upgraded to broadband.

The chamber supported the view of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) that there should be a one-off charge for the upgrade while the line rental should remain the same.

Telkom marketing executive Steven Hayward said Icasa's rules stated: "The structure of an asymmetric DSL tariff shall comprise an installation and bringing into service charge, a monthly rental… and a bandwidth charge.''

The reference to a monthly rental had created confusion; it did not include the rental for the copper line, Hayward said.

This article was first published in Business Report.