Telkom applies for leave to appeal LCR

By Rodney Weidemann for Telkom

Johannesburg, 14 Nov 2003

Telkom has applied to the Pretoria High Court for leave to appeal last month`s decision to declare least-cost routing (LCR) a legal service.

In what was touted as evidence that SA`s telecoms market was at last becoming liberalised, the Pretoria High Court ruled in October against the monopoly`s attempt to have LCR declared illegal.

LCR systems enable customers to connect GSM-based equipment to a PABX, which can then take advantage of the better call rates offered when dialling from one cellular device to another or between numbers on the same cellular network.

Telkom`s argument was based on interpretations of key parts of the Telecommunications Act and the licence agreements that govern the country`s cellular operators, and effectively criticised LCR as being an illegal avoidance of the Telkom network.

However, High Court judge IWB de Villiers ruled that "there is no statutory provision which makes the act of such a connection unlawful".

Telkom`s decision to apply for leave to appeal comes after careful consideration of the court`s findings by the incumbent`s legal counsel.

According to Andrew Weldrick, Telkom`s senior manager for media relations, the application does not necessarily mean that the organisation will choose to appeal the decision, but it wants to "keep its options open on the matter".

"If the application is granted by the court and we do choose to appeal the decision, it will probably only occur in the next couple of weeks or so, so it is still very much a wait and see situation," says Weldrick.