/ 15 October 2009

Pull the other one

Heard the one about a telecom company being a law firm with an antenna stuck on top? Except it’s not funny.

It’s been an interesting week as the cabal of operators squirm at public hearings in front of a parliamentary committee aiming to reduce interconnection fees.

For far too long, these companies have been fleecing the SA public. For them to bleat about ‘universal access” and ‘economic growth” is disingenuous.

Operators are charging each other R1,25 per minute during peak times to transmit calls via each other’s networks, which the communications committee has proposed that interconnect rates be cut to 60 cents per minute during peak times by November and further slashed by 15 cents annually until 2012.

The committee said last month that the exorbitant costs of telecommunication in the country had hurt its citizens, particularly the poor.

Vodacom, for its part, waffled that a reduction was ‘likely to have a negative impact on government policy objective of universal access and would be disruptive to the economy and communications industry”.

Vodacom interconnection revenue, which includes income from Cell C, for national roaming services, rose by 8,6% to R8,63-billion for the year to the end of March.

MTN raised its interconnection revenue to R6,9-billion in the year to December compared to R6,3-billion in 2007.

MTN said the country’s economic growth and broadband penetration would be affected by cuts in charges if the company is not allowed to rebalance its business in a phased manner.

The excellent
If only a quarter of what Glenn ­Agliotti told the South Gauteng High Court this week is true, we live in a gangsters’ paradise.

2. Inside the Malema machine
As the Mail & Guardian arrives at Luthuli House at 3.40pm on Wednesday, late for an interview with ANC Youth League president Julius Malema, we are told to wait our turn to see ‘the president”.

3. Malema on Nedbank: ‘We will teach them a lesson’
The ANC Youth League will mobilise South Africans to close their Nedbank accounts if the bank fails to reinstate the sponsorship it recently withdrew from Athletics South Africa, league president Julius Malema said on Monday.

4. ANC backlash against the left
ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Billy Masetlha has become the first senior leader to express concerns publicly about the growing dominance of Cosatu and the SACP in the ANC.

5. ANC distances itself from Masetlha’s comments
The African National Congress said on Friday it had ‘read with regret” comments in the Mail & Guardian attributed to national executive member Billy Masetlha and other ‘faceless individuals” regarding the tripartite alliance.

6. Zuma ‘never said shoot to kill’
President Jacob Zuma expressed sadness on Monday at the death of a woman shot dead by police officials who apparently mistook her for a hijacker.

7. Agliotti: ‘I do lie from time to time’
Former top cop Jackie Selebi’s defence fought a no-holds barred battle on Tuesday afternoon, accusing drug-lord Glenn Agliotti of not hesitating to lie or exploit Selebi when it suited him.

8. Where’s all the bandwidth?
Seacom, the much-touted answer to South Africa’s broadband woes, has arrived, but the price war that many expected to arrive with it has not.

9. Agliotti admits lying to the Kebbles
Drug-lord Glenn Agliotti admitted on Tuesday morning that he lied to the Kebble family about an improper relationship between former police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi and security boss Clinton Nassif.

10. Agliotti sheds tears in the dock
Emotions ran high in the South Gauteng High Court on Thursday morning as former top cop Jackie Selebi chuckled while the state’s star witness, Glenn Agliotti, broke down in tears during his testimony.