Telkom has lodged a complaint with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) against the mobile operators, MTN and Vodacom, which the Company believes are engaged in price discrimination against it.
In terms of interconnection agreements concluded between Telkom and the mobile operators, the mobile companies charge Telkom a fixed fee for the carrying of any telephone call emanating from a Telkom customer to a customer of the cellular companies.
The charges are fixed, irrespective of the volume of calls.
Telkom is obliged to pass the charges on to its customers. Thus the charges determined by the interconnection agreements actually determine the cost of telephone calls for Telkom`s customers, on any calls from a Telkom line to a cellphone.
Telkom contends that the mobile operators are discriminating against the Company, in that they have been offering significant volume discounts to Telkom customers who use a device that is designed to route calls emanating from a fixed line away from Telkom`s network to that of the mobile operators.
Telkom today also applied to the High Court for a temporary interdict against the mobile operators, in the form of an order which will restrain the mobile operators from providing or offering to provide the "routing" equipment which allows calls from PABX systems to be routed to the mobile networks without entering Telkom`s telecommunications network as required by law.
With the assistance of the "routing" equipment, calls emanating from mobile phones may also reach PABX equipment without going through the agreed interconnection points between Telkom`s network and the networks of the mobile operators.
Telkom contends that this activity violates the provisions of the Telecommunications Act, the licence agreements of the mobile operators, as well as existing interconnection agreements between Telkom and the mobile operators.
Over the past two years Telkom has made several attempts to have the mobile operators desist from this unlawful activity without success. Instead the companies have intensified their marketing of the "routing" equipment.
Numerous complaints lodged by Telkom with the then South African Telecommunications Authority (Satra) over the past year-and-a-half have not yet been adjudicated on by the Authority, despite written assurances to Telkom that the matter would be treated with urgency.
Telkom has therefore found it necessary to seek the protection of the Court pending the Authority`s ruling on Telkom`s complaint.
Satra has since become the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) which is also cited as a respondent in the application.
The companies cited as respondents are:
Plessey Cellular (Pty) Ltd
Vodac (Pty) Ltd
Cellular Operations (Pty) Ltd
Nashua Ltd
Nokia Mobile Phones (Pty) Ltd
Mobile Telephone Networks (Pty) Ltd and
Vodacom Group (Pty) Ltd.
In its complaint to Icasa, lodged on Friday (11 August), Telkom says the mobile operators have declined to extend to Telkom similar volume discounts as they offer to their other customers, although Telkom is the single biggest purchaser of their services.
Telkom cannot offer similar call costs to its customers unless the Company itself absorbs the difference between the costs levied by the mobile operators and the amount recovered from its customers. This Telkom cannot do without suffering substantial losses.
The licences of both mobile operators provide that they are to treat all parties fairly.
Telkom has asked Icasa for an order directing them to refrain from engaging in uncompetitive conduct, and further declaring that Telkom be entitled to the same volume discounts as are applicable between the mobile operators and their other customers.
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