ICASA swamped with Telkom complaints

More than half of all complaints received by ICASA were directed at Telkom – many concerning its ADSL service.
According to the latest Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) Annual Report, 52% of all complaints received by the authority were directed at Telkom.
Vodacom received the second highest number of complaints (14%), followed by MTN at 10%, Cell C at 9% and all other telecoms players making up the final 19%. Telkom service provisioning accounted for 18% of all complaints while Telkom’s ADSL service was the reason why 18% of all complainants contacted ICASA.
The total number of complaints received during the last financial year was 924 of which 679 were closed and 245 are pending.
Dubious reporting
During the last financial year ICASA received a staggering 168 complaints about Telkom’s alleged non-compliance with the ADSL regulations. Most of these complaints focused on ADSL Installations, ADSL Fault reporting & clearance rates and ADSL Tariffs.
The Annual Report indicates that there were no complaints regarding ‘ADSL Local bandwidth capping’ which is most likely untrue as ICASA has itself held hearings into this issue which stemmed from complaints about non-compliance with this regulation.
The report also indicates that there were no complaints about ADSL Port prioritization or ADSL Service Level Agreements which once again is highly questionable.
The total number of complaints, namely 168, includes the number 34 which is listed next to the table heading ‘TABLE 1.B’. It is uncertain what the number 34 pertains to and it appears to not refer to a specific complaints category. The same ‘mistake’ or procedure was followed in a few other tables listed in the ICASA Annual Report.
It may be that this number should actually have been allocated to categories like ADSL Local bandwidth capping, ADSL Port prioritization and ADSL Service Level Agreements.
Telkom under fire
Despite the perceived inaccuracies in the ICASA Annual Report it is clear that Telkom, a telecoms provider with a far smaller subscriber base than operators like Vodacom and MTN, dominated complaints.
The recent Compliance and Complaints Committee (CCC) hearing into Telkom’s alleged non-compliance with the ADSL regulations appeared to not take into account the massive number of complaints regarding local bandwidth capping.
Telkom dominated the CCC hearing by questioning the authority of the Committee and the hearing itself and for all appearances their tactic seemed to work as the panel appeared to be caught off guard. Very little mention was made during the hearing of their alleged non-compliance with the ADSL Regulations to the apparent detriment of the consumer.
Source: mybroadband.co.za