The Telecoms Action Group (TAG), a consumer advocacy campaign to highlight the lack of competition in the telecommunications sector, will publish a full-page advert in the Mail & Guardian newspaper on Friday.
The advert is expected to berate Telkom for its exorbitant pricing.
However, it is also aimed at opening the eyes of others in SA, those not involved in the ICT sector, and perhaps not aware they are paying what many international studies have shown is hundreds of times more than they should be, says TAG.
Out of the R84 000 that was pledged, just over R60 000 was received in payments to the fund. One of the TAG organisers, Richard Frank, believes "publishing a full-page advert in a national newspaper such as the Mail & Guardian will require approximately R50 000" - but adds there is a possibility of a discount. Either way, the group has raised enough to publish the advert.
Aside from hindering the average South African's efforts to connect to reasonable voice and data lines - and the dampening effect this has on a range of e-commerce activities - Telkom's pricing is also said to have scared away many international investors. They say communicating with a branch in SA from overseas would be prohibitively expensive.
Global newswire service and financial data provider Reuters is the latest big name from overseas to state publicly that Telkom is the most direct reason it cannot, at the moment, consider expanding further locally.
While the world is turning increasingly to community-focused, collaborative electronic media avenues for the mobilisation of "the people", TAG feels the Mail & Guardian is the most effective way of highlighting the issue, and stirring regulators into controlling Telkom's pricing.
Industry players saw last year's new ADSL regulations as the perfect opportunity for the Independent Communications Authority of SA to bring down broadband costs. However, the regulations did little to materially change the cost of DSL installation and monthly fees.
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