Most of our business calls at the office are during the Telkom “Peak time” and we thought it would be a good idea to work out whether it was cheaper to call another party across the country from your Telkom line or from your Cellular phone.
Just for the record, Telkom have increased their local rates effective for September 2009 as follows:
Local calls for peak time:
Minimum charge is still 65c, but instead of getting 100 seconds included, you now only get 90 seconds. When converted to per second billing (if you use the full time allocation) was 0.65c per second and has increased to 0.72c per second. This is an 11% increase, if you use the full allocated time (90sec).
Thereafter the per minute rate has gone from 39.2c to 43.4c – an 11% increase.
National calls peak time:
There is no increase in the tariff, and the prices are as follows:
Minimum charge is 65c, and you are allocated 60 seconds for that charge. Effectively 1.08c per second.
Thereafter you are charged 65c per minute.
All billing after the initial minimum charge is billed per second.
Fixed line to Cellular calls peak time:
Telkom is not that expensive when calling cellular phones, the rates are as follows:
Telkom to Cellular – R1.886 minimum charge for the first 60 seconds and thereafter 94.3c for each 30 second time slot.
So back to the question, is it more cost efficient to use Telkom or a Cellular provider for national calls?
Let’s use Vodacom as the provider, using their Talk 200s and Talk 240 indicated in “()”- these seem to be popular with business people, the peak time pricing is as follows:
Vodacom to Vodacom is R2.39 (R2.04) – 4c (3c) per second.
Vodacom to national or local Telkom is R2.39 (R2.04) – 4c (3c) per second.
So, to make national calls use your Telkom phone. An average 3 minute call will cost you:
Telkom to Telkom – R1.95
Vodacom to Telkom – R7.17 (R6.12)
Vodacom to Vodacom – R7.17 (R6.12)
Telkom to Cellular – R5.658
Tip: Most Vodacom packages now have a “Happy Hour” rate which is effective from 17:00 to 20:00, and costs R1.49 per minute.
Also remember that least cost routing companies can offer PABX calls to Cellular at around R1.25 per minute. For discounted Telkom business packages see our previous article “Change nothing and save on your Telkom account“
The above pricing is inclusive of VAT.
Contributed by:
Malcolm Pearson
https://www.tech4law.co.za
