The interconnect rate debate continues with government claiming rates will come down by end of the year. But could governments recent vigor to resolve this problem have less to do with the interests of the consumer and more to do with concerns about governments own coffers?

In a recent article on myBroadband it was highlighted that Telkom is a loser in the current state of affairs as they pay out more to other operators than they receive due to the higher mobile interconnect rate versus the fixed line interconnect rate. So obviously with governments interests in Telkom, and recent sale of Vodacom shares, they may be concerned with who is losing out most here.

A slightly cynical view but definately supported by the facts. Below are the net gains and losses of South Africans three largest telecoms operators