| Mon 2 Feb 2004, 12:47 | | Telkom slugs it out with rivals on least cost rout |
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Telkom slugs it out with rivals on least cost routing
February 2, 2004
Durban - Telkom had been granted leave to appeal against the Competition Tribunal's ruling ordering it to disclose the confidential contents of its customer contracts, and the firm still believed least cost routing (LCR) was illegal, Andrew Weldrick, Telkom's senior media relations specialist, said yesterday.
"The status quo remains and, in Telkom's view, also applies to least cost routing devices," he said.
The tribunal this week ordered Telkom to disclose the contents of its contracts to its rival service provider, Orion Cellular, which last April filed an interdict application with the tribunal against Telkom, claiming that its strategy of supplying corporate customers with bulk discounts for full-service packages was uncompetitive.
Service providers have been at war over the issue for the past four years but some certainty was provided by the November ruling of the Cape high court that LCR was legal.
While Telkom is sticking to its guns that circumventing its network is illegal, the ruling has boosted business for LCR operators, whose devices direct calls along the most cost-effective routes, saving up to 50 percent on company cellphone bills.
The latest addition to the range of products available on the market is a device developed by Telepassport, a specialist telecommunications solutions provider, which can be attached to any PABX, including a Telkom product. The device automatically chooses the cheapest route without having to punch in a code.
Weldrick said Telkom found the use of such devices on its equipment objectionable and would not maintain PABXs linked to LCR technology.
However information technology communications attorney Lisa Thornton said the "status quo" was that there was a difference of opinion about the legality of LCR. "Even if Telkom wins the appeal, it still has a statutory duty to provide a service," she said.
To challenge the system, Thornton said Telkom would have to appeal to a court of law or the Independent Communications Authority of SA to intervene in specific cases.
Mike van den Bergh, the chairman of the Communications Users Association of SA, said the organisation supported anything that saved consumers money, created a choice and provided a better service.
While no statistics are available on how much business has been diverted away from Telkom by the LCR operators, Weldrick said the amount was "significant". However, van den Bergh did not think the high court's ruling last year had made a tremendous difference. "Practices like LCR and call back have been going on for a long time, so the ruling simply confirmed what we all believed," he said.
Geovanna Sutherland, Telepassport's Durban branch manager, said the ruling had created confidence in the market and the response for the product had been good in the market.
Telkom lost 1c to R75 on Friday.
