/ 20 June 2008

Telkom eyes tariff increase

Telkom has asked for a 2,4% increase from August 1, it said on Friday.

It has filed the request for tariff adjustments with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

”We are optimistic that Icasa will approve the proposed tariff changes,” said Godfrey Ntoele, Telkom’s group executive of national sales and marketing operations.

Telkom said the minimum charge for post-paid local calls (0km to 50km) would increase by 9,4%.

The per-second tariff for local calls during standard time would increase by 3,1%, and during Callmore time by 9,2%.

In the international arena, the overall adjustment was 0,2%. Tariffs to certain destinations, such as China, would increase, while call charges to other destinations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, would decrease.

Call charges to fixed-line destinations in the UK and US would drop 5% to 90 cents a minute (including VAT) during peak times and 80 cents a minute (including VAT) during global off-peak time.

Telkom said all residential and business installation charges, and analogue and ISDN basic rate rental, would increase by 11%.

However, customers subscribing to the ISDN primary rate would not be affected by the proposed increases.

The line rental for PrepaidFone would also remain unchanged.

Ntoele said Telkom’s stated objective of growing the data business had resulted in the company filing an average decrease of 7% on data products in the basket.

”Our broadband customers will also be pleased to hear that our submission makes provision for the monthly subscription charges for ADSL, Do Broadband and Telkom Internet to remain unchanged,” he said. — Sapa