adminmonopoly and restrictive practices established that the claims had been overtaken by events.
The Competition and Tariff Commission launched full-scale investigations into TelOne following reports of excessive pricing, inflated bills and excessive balances brought forward.
TelOne is also being accused of refusing to explain the high bills carried over from the Zimbabwean dollar era or give printouts to substantiate the high bills and penalising subscribers for late settlements of accounts.
A representative from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said the allegations were outdated as TelOne had reduced tariffs in line with regional standards.
She said TelOne experienced problems with the transition from the Zimbabwe dollar to US dollar resulting in inaccurate bills.
“The conversion rate from the Zimbabwe dollar to US dollar is a problem that we still have as a national so is TelOne,” she said.
In January 2009, TelOne was charging US30c per unit, which translates to US10c per minute and the tariffs were later reviewed in June 2009 to US6c per minute.
Following a Cabinet directive in July 2009 tariffs were brought down to US5c per minute backdated to February 2009, with a one-month holiday. This meant that this rate applied from February 2009 and bills for January 2009 were written off.
South Africa is one of the Sadc countries with the cheapest tariffs of US5c per minute including Value Added Tax. Namibia is at US7c per minute and Zambia US9c per minute all inclusive of VAT. However, South Africa has the highest fixed charge of US$19 and US$26 for domestic and corporates respectively.
An official with the Ministry of Transport said TelOne was not abusing its monopoly as more than 10 companies are now providing the same service using different technologies.
“There are a number of companies now offering the same service with TelOne because of this technological convergence,” said the official.
TelOne technical director Mr Lawrence Nkala, who represented the company, said the company is regulated and all tariffs implemented would have been scrutinised.
He also dismissed allegations that TelOne was using tariffs to recapitalise the company.
“Our model does not allow us to use tariff money for recapitalisation. Tariffs are used to maintain the networks,’ he said.
TelOne head of customer service Mr Neveson Musoni was also ordered to reconnect all lines which were disconnected between January and October 2009.
“We do not disconnect customers on the current bill; we give a period of between 60 and 80 days. We also do not charge fixed charges on a faulty line as alleged,” he added.
However, CTC had undertaken preliminary investigations into the alleged practices and established that there was a prima facie case that TelOne was abusing its monopoly position as alleged.
CTC is soon expected to make a ruling following the stakeholders’ public hearing.
Online Reporter