Telkom will appear before the competition tribunal today in a case which may see the company go bust.
The Competition Commission has asked the tribunal to find Telkom guilty of excessive pricing and abuse of the market and wants the company to be fined R3.5bn.
Eight years ago, an investigation by the commission found that Telkom was guilty of charging excessive prices to smaller independent companies --which relied on the company's network infrastructure to provide data services.
The commission also found that Telkom was discriminating against independent service providers in that its charges were less for companies affiliated to it.
Mike Schussler, director of Economists.co.za, believes it will be difficult for Telkom to survive under that sort of fine and that there needs to be a balance between competition and the ability of a company to carry on.
