When it comes to broadband worldwide, the general trend is quite well known by now – over time, while broadband internet becomes faster and better, the cost comes down. Quite simple. That is why we keep on seeing great offers for internet bundles on our mobile devices. But, leave it to the fixed line operator Telkom to go and change that little formula.
A few weeks ago we got the great news that Telkom would be increasing its minimum ADSL line speeds from 384kbps to 1Mbps, while 1Mbps clients get their lines upgraded to 2Mbps. This is great, but those speeds are still way behind the rest of the world. But now, just as Telkom is increasing the speed, they have decided it is also good time to bump up the price of ADSL line rentals, as well as most of their other services, by a few percentage points.
New pricing:
| Speed | Old Price | New Price |
| Fast | 152 | 165 |
| Faster | 289 | 299 |
| Fastest | 413 | 425 |
Now sure, R12 extra for the lowest end line is not a lot of money, but the sheer arrogance from Telkom is what really gets to me. SA is still in the unique situation where the ADSL line is charged as a seperate line above a voice line – who is Telkom trying to kid?! ADSL is simply a blocked off range of frequencies that run on the very same voice line, but Telkom customers have no choice in the matter. There is a very large number of ADSL users who simply do not use the voice line – and then just bear the barrier to entry cost.
Before Telkom unbundles their ADSL line offering (i.o.w. offering ADSL without the necessity of a voice line), we really hope that mobile data eats away their market share sooner rather than later. We are really not that sad to see Telkom’s share price slide even more. Hopefully ICASA, who has been toothless until now, can force them to unbundle ADSL.
Telkom Press release:
Telkom files 2012 tariff adjustments
Telkom has ensured that its 2012 annual tariff adjustment is below the Consumer Price Index as the Company revealed an increase of only 1.2% on overall basic voice and data services.
The adjustments, which will come into effect on 1 August 2012, apply to Telkom’s tariffs for line rentals, outgoing calls, DSL and data connectivity services.
“Telkom is committed to delivering value as we endeavour to contain the adjustments to a minimum. To this end, the adjustments are significantly less than inflation which is currently at 5.7%,” said Mr Manelisa Mavuso, Telkom’s Managing Director: Consumer Services and Retail.
Mr Mavuso pointed to a decrease in fixed to mobile call tariffs. “The new per minute tariffs for will be reduced by 3.6% to R1.35 for peak time and R1.08 for off peak calls.
Although international calls will not increase overall, tariffs to certain destinations will increase others will decrease. Some destinations for example the United Kingdom and the United States of America will remain unchanged.
PrepaidFone local calls increase by 5% but long distance calls remain unchanged. Line rental for PrepaidFone will increase by 6%. Postpaid residential and business line rental increase by 6%. Installation charges increase by 6% including Postpaid, PrepaidFone ISDN and DSL services.
On Telkom’s Closer product range the monthly subscription for Closer 1 will increase to R167, Closer 2 will increase to R185 and Closer 3 will increase to R341.
Mr Mavuso said that adjustments to data connectivity products were also kept to a minimum with an overall increase of only 1%.
The monthly rental fees on Telkom’s Do Broadband bundles remain unchanged. Monthly rental fees on the DSL offers will increase as follows: Fast DSL will increase to R165.00; Faster DSL will increase to R299.00 and Fastest DSL will increase to R425.00.
“As competition in the industry heats up, Telkom continues to compete and ultimately promote affordable telecommunications access,” concluded Mr Mavuso.
