Small businesses and rural areas would only benefit if Telkom succeeded in its proposed takeover of Business Connexion (BCX), says the SMME Forum.
The organisation will submit documents to the Competition Tribunal either today or on Monday, to intervene in support of the deal, says SMME Forum president Tebogo Khaas.
He is adamant a successful merger would benefit SA's SME industry, as well as people in remote rural areas, by providing cheaper and easier access to ICT.
Opposition to the proposed R2.4 billion deal - to be heard by the Competition Tribunal in March - is based on emotional reaction and has "nothing to do with competitive issues", says Khaas.
"When Telkom is mentioned, people immediately associate it with a monopoly and have negative feelings towards it. If Neotel was involved in this deal, no one would object."
However, Khaas says the SMME Forum does not deny that Telkom's monopolistic position has driven up telecoms prices, which, he says, are some of the highest in the world. But, he adds, Telkom's acquisition of IT services provider BCX must be seen as a separate issue to telecoms.
Knock-on effect
"This takeover will not have an effect on the telecoms market, but it will benefit many SMEs. Telkom has always wanted to provide ICT to this and the rural sector, but has been hampered by a lack of capacity. The Telkom-BCX deal will finally allow Telkom to achieve this."
The forum is the third party to intervene in the process. The local chapter of the Internet Service Providers' Association and Dimension Data have also submitted documents to the tribunal, but both are in opposition to the deal.
A tribunal spokesperson says the competition authority has already held several pre-hearings into the deal to establish procedural parameters. A final pre-hearing, centring on confidentiality disclosure, will be held in February.
The Competition Commission last year referred the deal to the tribunal, with a recommendation that it not be allowed to proceed. The commission concluded the merger would reduce competition in the telecoms sector.
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