SA pays highest international call rates

Single competitor for Telkom 'not good enough' Alan Peat THE FEARSOME cost of telephone bills to companies is not likely to abate until competition for parastatal Telkom arrives in the marketplace, according to Jo Randell, national sales manager of the NUS Consulting Group. "SA telecoms costs reduce national competitiveness," he said. And the latest government proposals - only one competitor for Telkom licensed in the "deregulation" of the landline industry - is not enough, Randell added. NUS colleague, Celia Duvenage, agreed. "Potential competitors such as Transtel and M-cell have urged the government to open competition to more than two fixed line providers. "They argue this would advance universal access to telephony and would lead to price decreases for consumers and businesses alike. "Although nothing has been finalised regarding the granting of more than two fixed line providers - as well as the listing of Telkom on the JSE (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) later this year - these changes are being opposed by the labour federation." But, in the meantime, the relative position of SA business is being adversely affected by continually escalating telecommunications charges, according to Randell. The NUS 2001 international cost comparison survey revealed that - while Telkom has kept national and international call costs largely unchanged - local call charges have risen by 17% over the past year, and 63% over the past three years. "This," said Randell, "is in stark contrast to most of the other 14 leading countries surveyed where costs of many call categories are being reduced, not increased." In international calls - although Telkom kept rates steady - SA is still by far the most expensive country surveyed. A three-minute call to New York costs R12.06 from SA, compared with just R1.37 from the Netherlands and R1.59 from Germany. Where national long-distance calls are concerned, Telkom is the second most expensive after Australia - at R3.21 for a three-minute call over more than 300 km. "While Telkom kept costs relatively steady," said Randell, "eight of the 14 countries surveyed actually reduced national call costs by up to 56%. "At a time when most of our trading partners are making considerable efforts to reduce telecoms costs, we are going the wrong way." Indeed, according to Duvenage, given that a deregulated market will not become a reality for another year or two, NUS foresees greater increases over the next year. "This will be mainly due to Telkom's investments to upgrade its network as well as its access speed in an effort to increase customer satisfaction."