Poor people in South Africa find it hard to afford phone charges

He said fixed-line phone calls in India were far cheaper than in South Africa at present, and "a variety of things" could be done to cut costs.

Mr Mbeki pledged swift action on long-delayed plans to end the monopoly of state-controlled Telkom.

He said a second national operator would get its licence within a month.

'Reduce costs'

After a meeting of his advisory council on information technology, President Mbeki complained that phone costs in South Africa were five times higher than those in India.

"The second network operator will help to reduce costs," the President said on Sunday. "We also need to take wireless technology to the rural people."

The council on information technology was set up five years ago to look at ways of helping South Africa embrace the digital revolution and making telephones more accessible to poorer citizens.

Another possible way of reducing the price of phone services was through regulation of the market, Mr Mbeki said.

The telecoms sector is regulated by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), which has already subjected Telkom to price-capping and is considering similar action for the country's three mobile phone operators.