Prepare for ADSL disillusionment

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

N, 17 Aug 2006

SA`s long-awaited pricing model for ADSL services has fallen short of industry expectations.

The final draft of the ADSL regulations, which ITWeb obtained ahead of the scheduled publication in the Government Gazette, will disappoint industry players, who earlier called for an international price model, the scrapping of line-rental fees and the lowering of access charges to ADSL infrastructure.

In addition, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has ignored industry`s expectation that it should regulate ADSL pricing by putting a specific figure to Telkom`s wholesale tariffs. No figures are quoted in the new document.

The regulations show the price of ADSL services remains bundled into a once-off installation charge, a monthly rental for provisioning and maintenance of ADSL lines, and a bandwidth charge.

The regulations do away with local bandwidth capping, but it is unclear how this will affect ADSL users who subscribed while a cap was in place. Those who subscribed before the introduction of a monthly cap have the option to terminate their contract or re-negotiate for new terms, the new model states.

Subscribers who have reached their monthly cap will be allowed to top up their monthly cap, without the need to purchase a new user account, the document says.

The maximum waiting period for the installation of an ADSL line by Telkom and the second national operator has been shortened to 30 days.

At the ADSL regulation hearings in May, Internet service providers (ISPs), including Internet Solutions, MWeb and the Internet Service Providers Association, called for the review of connection tariffs Telkom charges on the grounds that these were too high. The tariffs limited their capacity to provide innovative ADSL products and to lower the overall cost of connectivity for consumers, they said.

The regulations fail to address the connection charges Telkom levies to ISPs for the provision of ADSL services to customers.

ICASA chairman Paris Mashile said in an interview yesterday that interconnection is being addressed in the parallel investigation that seeks to develop interconnection and facilities leasing guidelines. He says the regulations have been taken to the government printers and will be widely available in due course.

To read the full ADSL regulations click here.