JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-South African mobile network operator MTN and fixed-line operator Telkom announced they have renegotiated aspects of their interconnection agreement, which is expected to translate into a reduction of call costs between Telkom and the mobile operator.
In terms of the agreement, MTN will sacrifice four South African cents of the overall fee on each call made from a Telkom line to an MTN terminal. The reduction came into effect from the start of February and cannot be withdrawn during the course of 2003.
The result of the deal is that the Telkom subscribers will pay 1.84 rand (US$0.21) for the first minute of a call to an MTN number during standard time, as opposed to the 1.88 rand (US$0.22) for calls to Vodacom or Cell C lines. The reduction amounts to little more than 2 percent.
Yvonne Muthien, MTN corporate affairs group executive, said the deal hinged on the condition that the savings be passed to Telkom subscribers, which is expected to lead to an increase in calls between Telkom and MTN customers. She added that MTN hoped the deal would be reciprocal, and negotiations to this effect are continuing.
A similar reciprocal reduction from Telkom would see MTN subscribers pay less for calls to Telkom phones, also with the anticipation that traffic and revenue would increase.
