TELKOM has filed for a 1,7 percent tariff adjustment with the Independent Communications Authority of south Africa (ICASA).
Pending ICASA approval of the price increase, Telkom’s new tariffs will become effective on 1 August 2009.
“Telkom has an ongoing commitment to provide our customers with the best possible service at a fair price within the context of current economic realities. Containing our proposed tariff adjustments to substantially below the Price Control Formula as well as the CPI, tangibly demonstrates this commitment,” says Godfrey Ntoele, Telkom’s Group Executive for National Sales and Marketing Operations.
Adds Ntoele: “Pricing is a key element of the value proposition and our pricing strategy is aimed at improving our competitiveness in areas where competition is expected to intensify.”
He says Telkom’s price filing with ICASA will see the tariffs of certain services increase, others decrease while some remain unchanged.
The minimum charge for postpaid local calls (0-50km) remains unchanged but the per second tariffs for Standard and Callmore time increase by 4.2 cents and 2.1 cents per minute respectively. The tariffs for long distance calls (>50km) remain unchanged.
PrepaidFone (weekly and monthly) as well as postpaid residential and business line rental charges only increase by 5.5% while the PrepaidFone Waya-Waya annual subscription will increase from R120.00 to R130.00 per annum. PrepaidFone local and long distance calls increase by 10%.
Outgoing mobile/cellular calls as well as outgoing calls to Neotel, Other Licensed Operators or OLOs (previously known as VANS) and Under Serviced Area Licences (USALs) remain unchanged.
Overall, the impact on international call rates will be 0%, with tariffs to certain destinations such as Swaziland and Namibia increasing. These changes are aimed at bringing the rates more in line with the cost of providing the service. On the other hand, calls to fixed-line destinations in countries such as the UK, USA, Germany, France, Portugal, New Zealand, China and Australia will decrease.
The monthly subscription charges for DSL, Do Broadband and TelkomInternet remain unchanged. However TelkomInternet all access 2Gb and 3Gb standard offering bandwidth customers will gain substantially as their respective offerings will be upgraded to 3Gb and 5Gb standard offering bandwidth.
Customers who subscribe to the Telkom Closer 3, 4 and 5 calling plans – with 13 00 free minutes per month, pure per-second billing for fixed to mobile calls, and free calls of up to an hour during Callmore time – will be glad to note that their current tariffs will remain unchanged.
Telkom Closer 1 and 2 subscription charges will increase by 7.4 percent and 5.6 percent respectively, but subscribers to Closer 1 will enjoy a significant enhancement.
Explains Ntoele: “With effect from 1 September 2009, our Telkom Closer 1 customers will receive free local and long distance weekend calls of up to an hour during Callmore time.”
Furthermore, customers of Telkom’s data products will see considerable savings, with data tariffs in the basket decreasing by 6 percent overall, he said.
“For the past few years we have been aligning our prices to be more competitive and in line with international standards, related costs as well as business and economic considerations. Having complied with regulatory prescriptions, Telkom is confident that our proposed price changes will be approved by ICASA.”