ISPs, VANS take Telkom to Competition Commission

Johannesburg, 08 May 2002

Telkom's exclusivity may be over but its legal troubles are not.

The SA Value-Added Network Services Association (SAVA) and the Internet Service Providers' Association today lodged a complaint against Telkom with the Competition Commission.

Details are scarce, but the bodies say they have asked the commission to impose remedies for the discriminatory pricing, illegal bundling of services and cross-subsidisation of competitive services of which they believe Telkom to be guilty.

At the time of publication, Telkom had not been officially notified of the action and could not comment.

Details of the complaint will be made at a press conference this afternoon, but SAVA says it is no coincidence that it launched the action so shortly after the end of Telkom's official monopoly.

"There has to be a time when we move to assert the rights that should have flowed to us at this point in time," says SAVA chairman Mike van den Bergh.

He adds that the official existence of competition since yesterday has not solved the problems his industry faces, forcing legal action.

The complaint will surprise few in the affected industries. Value-added network service providers have long predicted that they will soon be out of business if the current legal and regulatory framework in which they operate is not changed. Lawyers for the industry have publicly recommended that the Competition Commission be used as a forum for challenges, as it can impose penalties such as fining a company up to 10% of its annual turnover.

The Competition Commission and the Independent Communications Authority of SA recently signed a memorandum of understanding to clarify jurisdiction in cases where their responsibilities overlap.