If you thought you were getting away with dodging price increases just because you’re a Telkom subscriber, think again. Following MTN and Vodacom upping pricing earlier in the year, Telkom’s about to do the same. But, at least, there is a few more months’ grace before the increase kicks in.

1 August is the big day, so you’ve got plenty of time to watch the petrol price climb even higher before your Telkom account starts to cost more. The tariff increases will affect all of the telecoms provider’s fixed-line and broadband customers, as well as a selection of mobile services.

Really, Telkom?

The company says this is its first increase in two years, showing that it really knows how to pick its moment. Calling the increase ‘essential’, it seems now is the perfect time to lift its COVID price freeze. It should help Telkom out, but customers… perhaps not so much.

“Given the pressures of the lockdown restrictions and slow economic recovery and growth, Telkom, like many other South African companies and businesses, has been impacted by these unpredictable and unforeseen circumstances,” the company said.

Price increase specifics are in short supply, but there are a few. ADSL 1Mbit/s and ADSL 2Mbit/s users will be priced up to the ADSL 5Mbit/s tier. The reason? The former two tiers have been retired. At least those users will also be upgraded to the relevant speed. Infrastructure permitting, we guess.

All of its fixed-voice, fibre-to-the-home, legacy DSL, and PureConnect contracts will see prices rise. Smart Broadband Data Portfolio and those on existing FreeMe mobile contracts will dodge the bullet — more or less. There’s an increase due for Telkom’s out-of-bundle rates across the board.

“There will, however, be an increase in out-of-bundle rates for mobile voice and data services, which will result in an increase on most tariffs. Voice rates for out-of-bundle consumption will increase from R0.70 to R0.75/minute and data rates will increase from R0.30 to R0.32/MB.”