Telkom has been accused of anti-competitive behaviour by one of its wholesale clients, who provided detailed communications to substantiate its case.<\/p>\n
According to the Telkom Wholesale client (also referred to as the service provider), who asked to remain anonymous, Telkom Retail appears to be given preferential treatment by Telkom Wholesale.<\/p>\n
MyBroadband was provided with a full communication string, which showed the service provider was told by Telkom Wholesale that Metro Ethernet was not available to a certain business.<\/p>\n
However, not long afterwards, Telkom Retail offered the requested Metro Ethernet to the same business.<\/p>\n
To illustrate the concern of the service provider, a summary of the communication string is provided, below.<\/p>\n
\n\n
- Day 1:<\/strong> Service provider asked Telkom Wholesale for a Metro Ethernet service for client X;<\/li>\n
- Day 1:<\/strong> Telkom Wholesale said the service cannot be provided to client X, because the required infrastructure was not available in the area;<\/li>\n
- Day 15:<\/strong> Telkom Retail offers a Metro Ethernet service, which Telkom Wholesale told the service provider cannot be done, to client X;<\/li>\n
- Day 15:<\/strong> Service provider complains to Telkom Wholesale that Telkom Retail made an offer to his client;<\/li>\n
- Day 15:<\/strong> Telkom Wholesale promises to investigate the issue and give feedback.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The service provider said it is very concerned that Telkom Retail was given an advantage over other service providers by Telkom Wholesale.<\/p>\n
It added that Telkom Wholesale did give feedback as promised, but only to indicate that the investigation was ongoing.<\/p>\n
Not an isolated event<\/h3>\n
The Internet Service Providers\u2019 Association (ISPA) said this was not an isolated case.<\/p>\n
According to ISPA regulatory advisor Dominic Cull, the association had previously been advised of a number of allegations of the same or similar behaviour.<\/p>\n
Telkom mum on the issue<\/h3>\n
Telkom was asked whether the situation described was acceptable, but the company refused to answer the question.<\/p>\n
Telkom would also not comment on why Telkom Retail offered a service to a client which Telkom Wholesale said was not available to a service provider.<\/p>\n
Instead, Telkom said that Metro Ethernet and DSL products are provisioned nationally by Telkom\u2019s Network Infrastructure divisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the absence of specific detail relating to the alleged refusal of service provisioning, we are unable to investigate the matter,\u201d Telkom said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTelkom is, therefore, not able to comment on a specific matter in the absence of any of the specific detail pertaining to the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
It should be noted that Telkom did ask MyBroadband for specifics about the anti-competitive allegations and the companies which were involved.<\/p>\n
MyBroadband, however, could not provide this information as it would reveal the source, who asked to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n
Telkom wholesale and retail split<\/h3>\n
In June 2013, the Competition Tribunal ruled that Telkom must implement a functional wholesale and retail separation within its business.<\/p>\n
A few months later, Telkom published a code of conduct document, detailing how employees of its wholesale and retail businesses should and shouldn\u2019t engage with each other.<\/p>\n
The top policy of the Code of Conduct is for Telkom Wholesale to treat Telkom Retail and other licensed operators in a non-discriminatory manner.<\/p>\n
Telkom Wholesale must also protect confidential information of other licensed operators from Telkom Retail.<\/p>\n
The case described in this article raises some concerns as to whether Telkom\u2019s wholesale and retail separation was as successful as the Competition Tribunal wanted it to be.<\/p>\n
This article was first published on MyBroadband<\/a>.<\/p>\n
More on Telkom<\/h3>\n
Telkom BCX deal gets shareholder approval<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
D-Day for Telkom workers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Schindeh\u00fctte resigns from Telkom board<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n