A consumer advocacy campaign, highlighting lack of competition in the telecoms sector, has in its first week attracted over R57 000 in pledges, from about 190 individuals.
Initiated by the newly-formed Telecoms Action Group, the campaign aims to raise money to fund a full-page advert in one of SA`s large newspapers. If most of the pledged money is converted into actual donations, the campaign has already reached its goal.
"We officially launched the campaign last Wednesday," says campaign leader Richard Frank, who adds that the initial response was overwhelming. "We received R50 000 in pledges within the first 48 hours.
"Our next step is to open the account to be able to receive the donations," notes Frank, adding that this is something his team will do within the next few days.
He points to the fact that the campaign is "grassroots" in nature, with the growing list of almost 200 names being critically important to the campaign, providing the movement with more weight than it would have had if only large corporates - for instance - were asked to donate.
Frank hopes to be able to publish the advert, which is primarily designed to make people from outside the ICT sector aware of the way Telkom`s monopolistic behaviour hampers business in SA, sometime in October - although no firm dates have been set.
Thirteen individuals have donated R1 000 each, which is the ceiling limit Frank put on donations, with all the other donations ranging from R200 upwards.
"Any extra money that is left over (after paying for the advert) will be used to push similar advocacy projects in the telecoms sector," he adds.
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