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View Full Version : SA must allow competing cables (too good not to share)



Titan
8th October 2007, 04:08 PM
This is a quote from the Hellkom.co.za site, I thought it was brilliant!


"Our omnipotent minister of communications, Poison Ivy*, has once again thrust a stick into the spokes of the wheels of progress. She now wants majority local ownership of cables landing in SA - this is obviously contrary to anything resembling common sense and/or someone who wants to bring down the cost of telecommunications. Common sense is pretty visibly not all that common. How the hell she manages to cling onto her job only the people who are keeping her there will know. The department of communications' loyalties are very sketchy at best and still seem to favour anyone except the South African people.

Now the World Bank has stepped up to the plate, pride in pocket, and said they hope the SA Government will wake the @&#% up "allow competing cables to have equitable and reciprocal landing rights". Now if the WB has said this then we know it follows the guidelines of common sense properly, as opposed to that of the communications department, who seems to see it as a waste of time which could be better spent thinking of more ways to hinder the country in it's competitive ability internationally.

Time will tell if our Telkom puppets will make the right decision, but up until today the light at the end of the department of communications tunnel is as dark as a coal miner's backside."

* "Poison Ivy" Matsepe-Casaburri

Nuff said!!

Ga5can
8th October 2007, 04:51 PM
Normally people (that includes politicians) will learn from history and what competition can and will do in a market. ICASA is driving our telecommunications market towards this as it is a WTO objective for our market BUT then politics get in the way.

The nice thing is that Vodacom and MTN are both building their own backbones and will thus reduce their requirement from Telkom quite soon. This will mean that 3G should become cheaper and thus ADSL will also become more competitive.

NEOTEL (the SNO ..a.k.a Still Not Operating) is struggling to find their own ... strategy.

Well, it should then open up an opportunity for a local company to partner with an international and hold a portion of te cable that lands in SA? Many ways to skin a cat ...

Flangenimblick
8th October 2007, 06:33 PM
Damn you Telkom! Damn you! *shakes fists angrily at sky*

Thumponius
8th October 2007, 10:21 PM
The issue that Vodacom has is that they are owned 51% by Telkom so that captive market is not going to stray too far from the corral. iBurst is run by Knott Craig's son. Can anyone here spell nepotism or monopoly?

The worry for 2010 is not the crime, roads, or even the crooked politicians and cops (sit down McBride that was a slap, not a backhander), it is the sad fact that we need at least 480GBps of bandwidth to carry the television and radio broadcasts that make up the bulk of the WC revenue.

Any guesses which relative or girl/boyfriend is going to get the rights to the cables?

Vortex
8th October 2007, 10:44 PM
The issue that Vodacom has is that they are owned 51% by Telkom so that captive market is not going to stray too far from the corral.

I was under the impression that Vodacom has bought back a few of those shares from Telkom - I must go looking for that source again..

Ga5can
9th October 2007, 12:29 AM
Unofficially ... the plans are as follows:

Telkom is going to sell their 51% stake in Vodacom to Vodafone.
MTN is going to buy a portion of Telkom and help them get into Africa.

We as consumer will have to wait and see what Vodafone, Neotel and Sentech can offer.