Telkom Customers Caught Off Guard as Call Rates Increase by 18.5% with 1 Week's Notice

• Telkom customers have been met with a shock following the mobile network company announcing a change in rates on short notice
• The company gave customers a week's notice about the wholesale transit rate change while a lot of wholesale clients are on leave
• A report shows that Telkom makes the second most amount of many from customers based on the average revenue per user calculation

JOHANNESBURG - Telkom customers will have to pay more because the company plans to increase the wholesale transit rate for UK Mobile Vodafone from R0.301 to R56.119. The increase of 18.544% will come into effect from 28 December, 2021.

Telkom customers were bamboozled by the company, which only notified them about the increasing rates seven days before the change is supposed to come into effect.

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MyBroadband reports that Telkom is no stranger to making such announcements, in fact, one telecommunications executive stated that Telkom likes catching wholesale clients off guard while they are on leave.

Telkom made a similar announcement this year right before Heritage Day and did not give o customers a chance to prepare for the price hikes.

How much Telkom makes from customers

BusinessTech reports that by the end of September 2021, Telkom had a subscriber base of 16.3 million customers. When it comes to pre-paid customers, Telkom earns an average revenue per user (ARPU) of R67 and post-prepaid ARPU of R217.

The blended ARPU is R92 which places Telkom in the second position when it comes to how much it makes from customers. MTN and Vodacom both make an ARPU of R98 and R90 respectively.

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MTN allegedly planning to take over Telkom

Briefly News previously reported that inside sources say MTN, South Africa's second-largest telecommunications company, has its eye set on acquiring Telkom.

MTN is said to have already approached Telkom about a takeover, however, Telkom has shown no interest in selling the company, which is now the third-largest cellphone network firm.

According to Fin24, the negotiations talks between the two telecommunications companies are currently being kept confidential and there is uncertainty on whether or not MTN will continue to pursue Telkom.

MTN has had a great financial year and the company's shares have grown by 117% in value. The company is now valued at R319 billion while Telkom's worth is R29 billion.

Source: Briefly News