The Pretoria High Court yesterday granted a postponement in the Telkom/ICASA case, with argument by the two parties to be heard on 5 March.
ICASA, the Independent Communications Authority of SA, is challenging the Telkom tariff hike in January, which saw price increases on some services top 50%. The regulator says it did not authorise the new tariffs and that they are illegal; Telkom claims it was within its rights to increase prices.
Both sides wanted more time to prepare their arguments. ICASA has brought high-profile counsel Gilbert Marcus on board and plans to submit affidavits strengthening its position. Telkom is to bring an application to have ICASA`s regulations set aside, which is to be combined with the original case.
Details of the Telkom application and the ICASA response are expected during the course of the next two weeks.
While the case continues users are obliged to pay their Telkom bills in full, but the company has confirmed that it will refund customers should the court rule against it.
Should that happen, says Telkom spokesman Andrew Weldrick, the company is likely to ask the court to allow it to credit customer accounts with the relevant amount instead of making cash payments. However, he says that would depend on the timing of such a hypothetical ruling, and whether Telkom has the cash flow to absorb a massive payback.
Weldrick says it is difficult to even speculate on what the total of such a refund could be. Telkom is earning in the region of R100 million a month extra after the rate increases, but would not be obliged to return that full amount.
"If the court rules against us we would have to re-file our tariffs," he says. While the current tariffs run contrary to many provisions in ICASA regulations, the company would be allowed to institute substantial increases, and would have to refund only the difference between old and new increases.
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