Download drama strikes at Telecom

CLIENTS of Telecom Namibia’s Mobile Broadband deal have come to a shocking realisation – what it actually costs to download data from the Internet.

Telecom launched its mobile broadband service – and in particular the 3G-EVDO mobile package – in November 2007.But the company never implemented the caps on its different products – the maximum amount of data a customer can download.The cheapest of these packages was N$289 for 550 Megabytes (MB) of data per month – anything more was to be charged at N$0.50 per MB. But Telecom effectively allowed customers to download as much as they wanted for almost two years before implementing the data caps in August.Now that the company is charging extra for exceeding the caps, the innocuous-sounding 50 cents per MB could amount to a bill of N$40 000 a month or more.Some clients say they know of bills that have reached close to N$100 000. Telecom spokesman Oiva Angula says the company made it clear from the start that there were usage limits. He says although subscribers were allowed limitless usage at first, the number of subscribers soared and this placed heavier demands on Telecom’s bandwidth consumption.It was also unfair to those who had subscribed to the more expensive packages for two years, because those who paid less could effectively download more.’Telecom Namibia noted the cost associated with increased Internet usage, as bandwidth is currently costly. Besides, there is a network that must be maintained and upgraded to accommodate more users.’ONLINE PETITIONIn an online petition, at least 25 Telecom clients are asking Telecom to consider alternative options such as making the bundles prepaid products or blocking Internet usage once the limit is reached.As it is, they only find out at the end of the month how much data they had downloaded.One client said he woke up to a cellphone banking message that about N$8 000 had been deducted from his bank account for his Telecom account.The petitioners are also requesting that they be allowed to terminate their 24-month contracts without a penalty fee if Telecom is unwilling to provide other options. ‘We did sign contracts, and we will adhere to them if the new payments incentives allow us to stay within our affordability ranges. These new changes have caused financial constraints to all of us, and we thus demand more options,’ the petition states.But Angula says clients who feel they require increased download capacity should opt for flat-rate services that are uncapped.For the mobile or wireless option, this would mean a subscription fee of N$999 per month.He adds that clients can also check their data usage by calling the customer centre.nangula@namibian.com.na