Telkom plans to make gamers poorer with 14% line rental tariff increase

If you’re in South Africa, own a telephone and haven’t heard the news, then brace your wallets because Telkom is joining Vodacom in hiking its prices. Only this time, the Telkom tariff hike will likely affect all gamers across all platforms.

Current line rental prices are a result of a hike Telkom issued in August 2014, from R155 to R166. That was costly for some, but the next pending hike, scheduled for 1 May, will see prices jump to R189.

If you’re an internet user leasing a line from Telkom, this effectively mean a premium of R23 more each month on top of your data package prices.

Speaking to Fin24, Telkom explained the factors behind the near 14% balloon:

The pricing updates are part of Telkom’s rationalisation of products and services. Factors that have influenced these fixed line rental changes include inflation, along with the access line deficit. The updates required swift implementation on Telkom’s part.

The company has promised to, in turn, beef up infrastructure as well:

We continue to extensively invest in infrastructure to provide better services and value to our customers, making the product rationalisation an imperative.

Telkom has released a document detailing the planned increase, which can be read here (pdf).