Johannesburg — STINGING criticism from the world-renowned Reuters news agency, evidence from numerous analysts and a verbal lashing by President Thabo Mbeki himself have failed to penetrate Telkom's impervious skin and force it to cut its prices.

So what impact will come from 200 despondent consumers moaning about the high cost of a phone call?

Probably very little, but a full-page advert they placed in the Mail & Guardian this week is a piece of public activism that just may make Telkom's price-fixing executives squirm in momentary discomfort.

The advert placed by the Telecoms Action Group (Tag) was funded by individual consumers including a sprinkling of lawyers, journalists and representatives of a couple of hi-tech companies.

It is big, bold and aims straight for the jugular. Under the headline, "The more of this you read, the more infuriated you'll become", the advert says: "Last year, Telkom recorded a staggering R9,3bn in profit. At your expense. Don't expect the government to step in. They couldn't give a hoot. They've got a 38% shareholding."

It points out that South Africans pay five times more for a local call now than in 1996, and that our internet access is among the most expensive in the world. Telkom has laid off 35000 staff in seven years, so its profits sky-rocket while consumers wait up to six months to get a line, it says.

The action group was set up by journalists Richard Frank and Alastair Otter, who run the tectonic.co.za newsletter.

Frank admits that Telkom is unlikely to react. "We are not naive enough to think our one advert is going to make Telkom slash its prices by 50% and neither is government or the regulator going to do much," he says. "The main purpose is to show that consumers have a voice in SA."

In reply, Telkom issued a statement on Friday saying it was committed to adjusting its pricing model consistently in order to make telecommunications more affordable and accessible to business as well as the broader public.

Its last price revision saw an overall cut of 2,1% on a basket of products, while high-speed internet access line rental fell an average of 24%, it said.