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South Africa's Broadband Industry in Turmoil

Posted by timothy on from the big-fat-mess dept.

Gldm writes from South Africa that "things are heading towards all-out war down here. Our regulatory board ICASA (think FCC) finally woke up and publihsed the results of hearings on 446 complaints about monopoly broadband provider Telkom, which was deregulated back in Febuary, and proposed new regulations to take effect in four weeks. ICASA demands the 3GB monthly traffic cap be removed, port shaping removed, minimum speed requirements be enforced, and that Telkom stop double-charging customers." Read on for the rest; it sounds like (for once!) broadband customers in the U.S. can be grateful for relatively good broadband, instead of envious of South Korea's ubiquitous high-speed access.

"Currently we pay exorbitant rates: a monthly fee for the physical line of R87, then Telkom charges a fee of R270 to R477 depending on line speed 192-512kbps, and THEN the standard ISP fee, which is typically another R300-500 or more. This means a total monthly DSL cost of around R1000 or about US $160 for a 512k line with 3GB of traffic before you get cut off, and all ports but 80 useless internationally. ICASA says Telkom should charge a fixed fee to cover the line cost when it is installed like every other country, not a monthly fee.

Telkom's response is that ICASA doesn't know how to run a network and this would make the network "unsustainable" and prevent them from recovering R1bn in investments. They've threatened to not only to stop investing in new infrastructure, but also shut down all DSL service in the country, bringing business to a standstill.

Local politcal group the Inkatha Freedom Party has sided with ICASA and is saying Telkom must not be allowed to hold the country hostage. They're calling for the Minister of Communications to step in, but so far no official word from high up in the government."

31 comments

  1. More info by Vo0k · · Score: 2, Interesting

    http://www.hellkom.co.za/
    We All Love hellkom :)

    --
    Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
  2. Re:Fake story by FidelCatsro · · Score: 2, Informative

    I thought that was a random troll , till i noticed it was a reply .
    Checked on the parent post and what do you know .
    Your 100% right , he is a bit ignorant indeed.
    Why do people continually think of Africa as a single nation , Its an entire continent with many wide and diverse cultures . Taking three extremes ,Egypt , South Africa and Somalia .
    Its like saying the USA , Mexico and Lithuania and basically the same country.

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  3. MyADSL by fergus_bear · · Score: 3, Informative

    The site that initiated the complaints is www.myadsl.co.za, a forum for users of ADSL in South Africa that got fed up with the shoddy service and lodged the complaint with the regulator. Thanks to Telkom South Africa is still in the Dark Ages when it comes to internet access. Hopefully with recent developments we'll have better service soon!

    1. Re:MyADSL by baldass_newbie · · Score: 1

      Right. It's the company that operates in a heavily-regulated industry's fault.
      What if there were, I don't know, TWO companies? What then?

      --
      The opposite of progress is congress
  4. Come chat about it on #myadsl on efnet. by Gldm · · Score: 3, Informative

    We've got a nice IRC channel for people who don't believe SA has internet. Also our own server, irc.ac.za (though your ping to it will probably suck), and for the clientless, http://www.ircd.co.za/ for a java client to it. Or if you just like forums, http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/

    I would have submitted this sooner, but it seems that any time I'm at work, if I try to post a comment on slashdot, it gives me "You can't post to this page." Yet it works fine at home on another ISP. I've tried asking what's going on, if it's some kind of domain ban, but nobody ever replied.

    --

    Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!

    1. Re:Come chat about it on #myadsl on efnet. by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      Most likely you are not the only one on your work ip.

    2. Re:Come chat about it on #myadsl on efnet. by Gldm · · Score: 1

      Given that there's no such thing as static IP in this country, I wouldn't doubt it, but I have no idea what the exact issue is or how to adress it.

      --

      Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!

  5. International calls from South Africa by badfish99 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    When I worked in SA a few years ago, the procedure for calling England from work was as follows:
    1. Dial a special number in the US. Let it ring and then put the phone down.
    2. A machine in the US would then call me back.
    3. The machine would then connect me to another phone line in the US, and I would dial the number I wanted in England.
    This resulted in two phone calls from the US, one to SA and one to England. It was explained to me that this was *much* cheaper than paying the SA telecom's monopoly rates for one call

    Does this sort of thing still go on?

    1. Re:International calls from South Africa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This sort of thing happens everywhere in the world, its called beating the system.

    2. Re:International calls from South Africa by Hognoxious · · Score: 1
      This resulted in two phone calls from the US, one to SA and one to England.
      Wow, their rates must be bad if it's cheaper to make four calls...
      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  6. Did they say this with a straight face? by Cantide · · Score: 1

    Wow.

    "Icasa has displayed a fundamental misunderstanding in network design. It appears the findings are based on reports by parties at the hearings, and Icasa did not apply its mind on how broadband is offered worldwide."

    ICASA says Telkom should charge a fixed fee to cover the line cost when it is installed like every other country, not a monthly fee.

    I was going to crack a Nigerian Spam joke, but sometimes life provides its own punchlines.

  7. Radically different cost structures by Frantactical+Fruke · · Score: 1

    I suspect that most Korean traffic comes from Korean language sites, which are mostly conveniently located in the same small country.

    US traffic probably comes mostly from American sites, but also from English speaking countries around the world as well as European sites published in English, which is our defacto lingua franca.

    South Africans probably browse sites from all over the world, like I do here in Finland: 99% of sites I visit come from overseas, which makes me a much more expensive customer than that Korean dude surfing mostly sites less than a thousand miles away on the same trunk line. Underwater, cross-Atlantic cable takes a while to pay for...

    1. Re:Radically different cost structures by alienw · · Score: 1

      Transatlantic cables are expensive, but they aren't expensive enough that 512k DSL would cost $160 a month. South Africa has excellent connectivity, anyway. There are lots of trunks across the continent, connections to Europe, as well as transatlantic cables. The only reason DSL is so overpriced is because it's a monopoly.

    2. Re:Radically different cost structures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only does South Africa have the possibility of excellent connectivity, but it is the South African people's tax money that indirectly funded the bandwidth pipes, from back when Telkom was government owned (See http://www.safe-sat3.co.za/). For the record, SBC (an American company) owned most of Telkom until a year or two ago, and the South African government still owns about 40% of Telkom (which could be part of the reason that Telkom is still allowed to be the sole provider of fixed-lines telecommunication in South Africa). There are plans for a second network operator, but the many delays have made people highly skeptical that it will make a large difference (think: duopoly).

      The fact is that Telkom have abused their monopolistic position to the extent that it is crippling the South African economy. They have repeatedly come under fire for being unable to supply valid arguments for their insanely high costs. This is not about them recouping the expenditure for their infrastructure - they have already done this several times over. In fact their net profit last year was approximately R7 billion (roughly $1.1 billion), which was up from the previous years net profit of about R4,5 billion (roughly $700 million).

    3. Re:Radically different cost structures by alienw · · Score: 1

      You can never have true competition for fixed-line service, simply because it's not feasible for more than one company to run cables to each subscriber. Trying to make them share the infrastructure is next to impossible. Ultimately, the key here is strong regulation -- the government needs to step in and lower the prices. The real problem here is corrupt government.

  8. Re:Fake story by armondf · · Score: 1

    so, which part of the united states of the world... sorry... America are you from? Understandably, we *do* ride elephants to our tribal jobs of hunter-gathering while painting rocks with pictures of antelope, kudu and coke cans... Did I say coke cans? Yeah, we've got MacDonalsds and banks and people who speak *real* English - oh yeah - we have that little interconnected network called the Internet. Oh, and the nearest you'll get to an Elephant in Africa? A zoo or an Elephant Park.

    --
    how flawed is your society? flawedsociety.myfreelancejobs.com
  9. Re:Fake story by madaxe42 · · Score: 1

    Now now, calm down, I was in Mevilnius York City last week, speaking Spamuanian (that's what they speak in Melithica), and I can say with utter certainty that you are behind the times my friend! Those three great bastions of western democracy fused into a great hegemonised wondernation.

    So, which part of Africaland did you say you were from? It's only little, about the size of spain, which is a peninsula on the small island of Europe, off the coast of Florida, part of the great nation state of Melithica. I mean, how can Egypt, South Africa and Somalia be that different? They're only like, y'know, 20 miles apart or so. Geesh.

  10. errrrrrr by hellkom · · Score: 1

    Why the fuck wasnt this on the front page? is it cos everyone thinks we see lions when we step out of our back door? Lack of education is one thing but ignorance goes hand in hand along with it.

    1. Re:errrrrrr by incom · · Score: 1

      It's true, I used to think that SA'ians were racist assholes, until I did some reading on the history of the place, much different scenario than what most people would guess.

      --
      True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
  11. Re:Fake story by antitrust.co.za · · Score: 1

    you are a complete idiot. enough said. are people really this stupid in america?

  12. http://www.antitrust.co.za Fighting TELKOM by antitrust.co.za · · Score: 1

    So you want to know the issues and fight back? Join http://www.antitrust.co.za/ and help us out. Antitrust.co.za carries all the telkom issues/news and protest actions.

  13. Re:Fake story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you really need to ask that question? Look who they elected president.

  14. LOL 3GB cap!!! by skintigh2 · · Score: 1

    I've downloaded more than that in a single file in one night, and I hardly ever download anything.

    Thank you puretna...

  15. Loving the Abuse by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

    I should be "grateful" that I get what I pay for, in addition to paying for it? And I shouldn't want the best service possible to be available for purchase, as Koreans prove can be delivered, just because somewhere else has it even worse? I guess my delusions spring from not having lived long enough under Telkom's heel. Although living under Bell, then AT&T's heel for decades hasn't destroyed my ability to demand the best.

    And how does the regulators requiring the telco honor their agreements spell "turmoil" for the telco industry? Unless they're so dependent on charging whatever they want, for any low quality service. Which sounds like you're starting from turmoil. A little more in the transition to quality will do you some good. I'd like a little more of that kind of turmoil here in the US.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

    1. Re:Loving the Abuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, with Telkom being the only provider of ADSL, and with their subsequent threats to ICASA (the regulator) following the release of the findings document, I think it's safe to say that there is a fair amount of uncertainty. Telkom have threatened to cancel ADSL rollout, as well as cancel the entire ADSL service. If there were fair competition then this wouldn't spell disaster, but with a monopoly doing it, well their threats amount to extorting a nation.

      No one is saying that you shouldn't push for the best service possible, because if you didn't, there is a high possibility that you could still be where South Africans are sitting at the moment. I think the article just puts a lot of other country's broadband woes in perspective.

      Just to give an idea of the kind of pricing: Telkom are apparently planning to introduce a new billing structure - pay per GB used. At the moment they sell 3GB accounts. There have been rumors of the pricing, but most people seem to suspect it to be in the region of $8 - $16 per GB. This is on top of the monthly rental fee ($75), the phone line fee ($15) and whatever price the ISP decides to add on.

    2. Re:Loving the Abuse by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

      I understand you've got monopoly problems. Our service in the US would be even worse if we didn't have a duopoly practically everywhere, combined with a monopoly-friendly government, deprioritizing universal broadband.

      But someone did say that we shouldn't push for the best service possible here in the US - or at least blatantly implied it. When they said we should be "grateful" we have the service we do, rather than complain that it's not as good as Koreans have. It's very difficult to be both grateful for our service, and push to have better - at least in American culture. So we agree on the principles, but you're letting off the poster to whom I replied for their hyperbolic, and kinda insulting, suggestions. Perhaps, assuming you're both South Africans, your culture can accomodate that dual gratitude/pushiness. But until I get the benefit of that insight into South African culture, I'm going to continue to assume that South Africans find it as hard as most Americans. And that neither of us should do anything until we've succeeded in pushing to get the best service that money can buy, regardless of the level that it currently does buy.

      --

      --
      make install -not war

    3. Re:Loving the Abuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think we're partially in agreement then ;)

      By the way, I think this part:

      "Read on for the rest; it sounds like (for once!) broadband customers in the U.S. can be
      grateful for relatively good broadband, instead of envious of South Korea's ubiquitous
      high-speed access."

      Which refers to Americans needing to be grateful, was actually added on to the original
      post (and not by the original poster, who was South African). It really is a matter of
      perspective though.

      But I think the point is that consumers (all around the world) are realizing that they don't
      have to settle for sub par services, and they can actually push for a change.