Granting Telkom another four years to finalise the installation of the ADSL system was hampering telecommunications reform in the country, the Telecoms Action Group (Tag) said on Friday.
The asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) works by splitting phone lines into two separate channels. One of these channels is used for voice and the other for data.
The Tag statement follows an announcement by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri that she was giving Telkom until November 2011 to unbundle the local loop, which links the national telecoms network to individual homes and businesses electronically.
”By giving yet another four years to Telkom to complete this process the minister is effectively perpetuating Telkom’s monopoly over fixed-line end-user services and making it impossible for real competition to develop in the telecommunications sector,” said Tag spokesperson Alastair Otter.
”As long as Telkom maintains its monopoly over the local loop, third-party operators are not able to provide services over the existing copper infrastructure and it prevents the growth of competitive services entering the market.”
He said Matsepe-Casaburri continually contradicted herself whenever she spoke about speeding up the communications reform in the country.
”In her budget speech last year, the process of unbundling the local loop was given priority status and yet that had no effect … and yesterday [Thursday] she gave Telkom another four years.” – Sapa