Telkom has announced that it will slash tariffs for national long distance and international calls, and implement a new mobile interconnect agreement effective from Thursday, 8 November.
This is the seventh time in the past five years that Telkom has reduced its international rates, in line with its long-term rate rebalancing strategy that is nearing completion.
The national long distance (over 100km) rate has been reduced by 11% to R1.09 per minute during standard time and to R0.55 during Callmore time.
International rates have been reduced by an average of 17%, with calls to some popular destinations reduced by as much as 50%. Leading the cost reduction are calls to popular destinations Sweden and Germany. Peak time calls to Sweden now cost half what they used to - a mere R3.41 - while those to Germany cost R2.84 per minute. Costs of peak time calls to other popular destinations will reduce to: Zimbabwe and Namibia R1.58; UK R3.41; US R3.64; New Zealand and Australia R3.28 per minute.
Telkom local, long distance and international calls are charged on a per second basis, with a minimum charge per call. These rate reductions also apply to Telkom Worldcall pre- and post-paid calling cards.
The tariff adjustments also include an increase of charges for calls to cellular numbers, to cover an increased interconnection cost that has resulted from a new interconnect agreement among Cell C, Vodacom, MTN and Telkom.
Peak time calls from Telkom lines to mobile numbers will increase by 11% from the current R1.60 per minute to R1.78 per minute. Time bands have been collapsed from three to two, and off-peak calls will increase to R1.06 per minute. These charges include a portion that Telkom then has to pay over to the mobile operators.
All tariffs quoted include 14% VAT, and these adjustments were approved by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).
Meanwhile, Telkom has indicated that it intends filing its annual tariff adjustments for 2002 with ICASA by mid-November, when a detailed announcement of the adjustments will be made.
More information on Telkom`s tariffs is available at http:\www.telkom.co.za.
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