Telkom dropping its prices??

I almost fell off my chair this evening.  Just as I received an sms notifying me that a client had paid me, I clicked on an article on Fin24 (via Buys Inc) setting out Telkom’s proposed reductions in its prices, including its ADSL prices:

Affordable DSL

In addition to these proposed price reductions, Hayward said that Telkom’s price filing would also make DSL rentals “much more affordable”.

The proposed DSL 192 and 384 monthly rental is R245 from August 1 2006 – a price decrease of R25 (9.3%) on the former and R114 (31.8%) on the latter.

There are also reductions of 24.1% on the monthly rentals for DSL 512 and DSL 1024. The proposed new monthly rental for DSL 512 is R362 (down from the current R477 monthly rental) while DSL 1024 monthly rentals are set to drop by R164 to R516.

The indicated DSL prices exclude ISP costs, line rental and call charges.

These reductions are not unexpected.  Telkom is facing competition from the SNO soon and it is subject to scrutiny by ICASA over its charge structure for ADSL.  Telkom has tended to react to competitive or regulatory pressures in the past.  At the same time these reductions are welcome (albeit long overdue and, some might argue, too little too late).

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