Technology

Telkom to ram through huge price hikes

Telkom to ram through huge price hikesTelkom is hiking prices across many of its retail and small business products, including fibre and DSL internet services and certain out-of-bundle mobile rates.

The price hikes will take effect on Monday, with some products being hiked by almost three times as much as the prevailing consumer inflation rate.

“Given the current inflation rate of 5.8%, tariff adjustments are necessary to ensure sustainable service excellence,” the company said in a statement.

“Telkom, like many other South African enterprises, acknowledges the impact of macroeconomic factors and is strategically adjusting tariffs to maintain service quality while remaining competitive in the market.”

Telkom highlighted these specific tariff adjustments:

  • Consumer fixed voice services: Tariffs will increase by an average of 15% for services such as line rental, prepaid fixed local-loop access, Closer calling plans and installation charges.
  • Mobile services: Out-of-bundle voice rates will increase from 80c to 89c/minutes for most post-paid tariffs (an increase of 11.25%), while out-of-bundle data rates will increase from 35c to R0.39/MB (up 11.4%) across all mobile products.
  • SMSes: Out-of-bundle rates for SMSes will increase from 35c to 39c each (also up 11.4%). No increases will be applied to ad hoc or recurring bundles.
  • Post-paid plans: Monthly subscription costs for post-paid plans (mobile voice plans such as FlexOn and Infinite, as well as LTE data plans) will increase by an average of 6% on 1 June 2024. Other fees like device instalment fees, insurance, value-added services or recurring bundles will not see additional increases.
  • Small and medium business voice services: Tariffs will rise by an average of 12.5% for line rental, installation and calling plans, and 5% for PABX products.
  • Broadband services: Tariff adjustments will be made across the consumer DSL, small business DSL, consumer fibre and small business fibre portfolios. Consumer DSL and small business DSL tariffs will increase by an average of 15%, while consumer fibre and small business fibre will see an average tariff adjustment of 10%. “Details regarding other fibre network operator products will be shared closer to implementation,” Telkom said.

The price hikes follow upward adjustments announced recently by rivals MTN and Vodacom.  – © 2024 NewsCentral Media

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