A seven-year feud between fixed-line operator Telkom's directory service division, Trudon, and a Port Elizabeth-based competitor is set to go to court yet again this morning.
This time, Telkom is appealing the Competition Tribunal's decision in favour of Directory Solutions, with costs. Trudon is 64.9% owned by Telkom and publishes the official telephone directories, the white and yellow pages, on behalf of the fixed-line operator.
Directory Solutions offers companies the opportunity to update their white and yellow page listings without going directly through Telkom, for which it charges a fee. It asked the tribunal to force Telkom to include Directory Solutions customers' enhanced directory entries without an upfront payment to Trudon by Directory Solutions' customers.
The tribunal ordered Telkom to accept Directory Solutions' clients without upfront payments. It has also ordered Telkom to publish all subscriber entries provided by Directory Solutions for the regions of the South Cape, Karoo, Boland, West Coast, Johannesburg and the East Rand.
Imposters
Trudon - formerly Telkom Directory Services - said in April, before the decision was handed down, that it does not accept entries from Directory Solutions “as they confuse our customers and we are the only company that can update customer entries”.
In a statement on its Web site, Trudon distanced itself from Directory Solutions, saying the Port Elizabeth company charges customers for inclusion in free databases, such as 1023.
“Directory Solutions is a stranger to our business. Often they mislead our customers into believing they are acting on Trudon's behalf. But, in actual fact, they really do not have any real knowledge of our customers' business and of the advertising programme built up over the years by the Trudon-trained consultants,” said the statement.
Long-term fight
The Port Elizabeth-based company is a competitor to Telkom's offering and the parties have been involved in a long-standing feud.
In 2003, Telkom said it would sue Directory Solutions for approaching Trudon's clients and trying to pay them to use Directory Solutions to update their details.
Two years later, according to the Herald, Telkom had lost its court battle and was - in turn - being sued by Directory Solutions for R100 000 in damages for defamation, after Telkom called the company a scam. It is not known what happened with this legal action.
A complaint that Telkom abuses its dominance in the sector is also being investigated by the Competition Commission.
The appeal will be heard by the Competition Appeal Court, at 10am today.
Related story:
TDS becomes Trudon
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