Rivals welcome wholesale changes

South African ISPs have given a cautious welcome to plans by the country’s dominant telco to reduce its wholesale ADSL prices. Telkom South Africa says it plans to begin offering a new wholesale product under which alternative operators will be able to resell the ADSL access portion and handle the bulk of the installation and support services. Local website MyBroadband says that ISPs will then launch ‘one-price’ broadband offers, under which consumers will make a single payment for their internet access rather than paying a fee to the ISP then a separate charge for line rental to Telkom. Sean Bezuidenhout from the ISP Gamco says it will give alternative operators more ownership of their customers. Critics have said that Telkom has not gone far enough, however, and that its wholesale charges still make it very difficult for competitors to make a profit.