The Communications Users` Association of South Africa (CUASA) has criticised Telkom for not taking steps to prevent abuse of its 1023 directory enquiry service.
CUASA spokesman Ray Webber says unscrupulous employees are using the 1023 line to bypass company switchboard restrictions and make expensive telephone calls on their employer`s tab.
Webber says the abuse is possible because the 1023 directory service offers callers the option of being put through to the required national number. To be put through costs 86c, and the 'new` call costs up to 99c a minute.
"Telkom`s introduction of 1023 AutoComplete service has led to a number of people making bogus calls to 1023, only to be put through to long-distance number. Their goal is either to bypass long-distance call-barring on their extension, or to prevent these calls from being detected easily.
"From an individual`s perspective, these amounts do not appear to be substantial. However, taken over a broad user base, medium and large businesses are picking up unnecessarily large telephone accounts."
Webber says many companies only pick up this abuse when they analyse detailed billing records and notice excessively long calls to the 1023 service.
Webber says CUASA has approached Telkom to seek a solution to the problem, but that none has been forthcoming. CUASA says that unless Telkom stops offering routing to new numbers via its 1023 service, companies may have to block the 1023 number altogether.
Telkom could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.
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