Not So Eassy

Government is under pressure to act, and earlier this year hinted it might ask Telkom's regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), to declare the cable system an essential service, paving the way for ISPs to have access to it at much cheaper rates. This is a move strongly opposed by Telkom, which has warned that it would have consequences .
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"consequences" -> cheaper prices. Why would investors stay away if the telecoms market is going to boom because of cheaper prices? Telkom inverstors may flee but do we care?
 
It is easy. Government must allow ISPs to self provide, must license more international carriers (with few restrictions on granting a license) and un-bundle the local loop.
Market forces will then sort out all the issues fairly quickly.

The SNO is the spanner in the works however.
Government should forget trying to make capital from their telecoms investments, its a paper gain that is killing the country in other ways.
 
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Those hoping the second network operator (SNO) will come to the rescue will be disappointed. Even though India's VSNL, which is a shareholder in the SNO, is a consortium member of Sat-3/Wasc/Safe, it is prohibited by the members' agreement from building a landing point in SA.
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:mad: :mad:

Why not if Telscum are using only 13% (correct me if I am wrong) of Safe/Sat-3?
 
<naive>

Surely If the government of the people had the people's interest at heart they would build another cable? How difficult can it be for government to raise $220 million ? Simply by waving the magic wand called sin taxes they raised R1.4bn more Surely if they pinched us here a bit and tweeked there a little we could raised enough. Have the ISP build a section 21 that does nothing but manage the bandwith fairly and maybe sprinkle a little ICASA for oversight (maybe not). Surely this could work ? Who cares if Telkom moans, the people win.

</naive>

In reality though, someone could interject and say well that money is needed elsewhere like housing and health although i dont think money is a problem there. I guess it is all about political will.
 
My personal, and perhaps unenlightened opinion...

This situation with SAT3 & SAFE is a prime example of major mistakes made by government in SA, however government is also the single largest investor in TelkoDemonopoly, and the solution should be for government to use that to its advantage in this case - IMO government should rally support from private investors in TelkoDemonopoly to buy back SAT3 and SAFE from TelkoDemonopoly - even if it means that government sells its shareholding in TelkoDemonopoly to pay for buying back SAT3 & SAFE, and as far as private investors go, how much do they gain ITO dividends when compared to their expenditure on telecoms costs? - surely not enough to offset their telephone & internet connectivity bills...so private investors should support government by voting in favour of a buyback of SAT3 & SAFE, then government can legally "nationalise" SAT3 & SAFE and perhaps appoint a company to run the landing points on government's behalf bcos there's no way that the country can afford to wait for 2007 before the issue is resolved...but then what happens in 2007 if government loses exclusivity to the landing points...:confused:...is that even a possibility?

Government as the single largest shareholder in TelkoDemonopoly must have access to the SAT3 & SAFE shareholder's agreement...surely?
 
bwana v.3 said:
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Also though the article says they cant access telkoms landing sites it should be noted that they also own Tyco - the underseas cabling people - so why not make a new landing point?
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IMO the answer to that puzzle is the shroud of secrecy that is enforced by the SAT3 & SAFE shareholder's agreement - allegedly there has to be unamimous agreement by all the shareholders to any proposed change, and they all have vested interests in keeping the status quo...so even if vasselene/VSNL/TATA wanted to make any changes and gain access to the SA landing points in SA on behalf of the SNO, they would be prevented from doing so by all other shareholders since they would potentially lose exclusivity in their own countries [IMO]...
Davidj81 said:
Money clearly isn't a problem if the government is considering lending mad bob R6Bn+.
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That's what I was thinking as well ;) and I could ramble on about that but it's o/t for this thread...:)
 
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What bugs me is the section where he's talking about the new Eassy cable
Of these six companies, however, only Sentech and Telkom are licensed to carry international telecom traffic.
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Is the government not going to permit the SNO to carry international traffic? Seems like we're getting perpetually screwed. I wonder who's going to lay the cable - VSNL's Tyco?
 
One thing that keeps on poping up with African countries is their uncontrollable habit of ripping the bottom out of opportunities that if nurtured would produce dividends for decades to come. They don't think further than now, never about tomorrow. It sounds like some of our neighbours to the north have had the same problem with their incumbents abusing their monopoly of the submarine cable. Africa is a very frustrating place to live.

There is a screensaver available free from www.mapmaker.com that shows the shadow of the sun over a map of the earth and also allows you to see the "night lights" over the different regions of the world. As I sit here looking at it, it comes as no surprise that hardly any lights come on in Africa as the sun sets. It speaks volumes. :(
 
At the end of the day, gov doesnt give a ****. Plain and simple. They're sitting on their arses doing sweet fackall and expect things to just fall into their laps.

The total lack of any form of vision for this country is astounding, and if asked if I am South African, I will say "Yes, I am a proud South African, but not proud of government".

If after reading that article someone in gov doesn't bat an eyelid, they should be marooned on a desert island.

Isnt a government supposed to look after its people? Or is that 'old skool'? Oh wait the president said its a capitalistic society.. well then why give a siht about the little people - the people who voted the gov into power. Ah well.. maybe they're actually trying to dissuade investment in SA and dont actually care about creating any form of jobs whatsoever. Or maybe they cant understand the multiples of reports which state that Telkom is holding the country back. Perhaps drawing pictures would help.
 
SAT3 & SAFE costs are irrelevant in the big picture.

The real issue lies not with broadband costs but with fixed line telephony.
Here Telkom cannot budge, as can be seen with recent new prices.

Telkom cannot deliver telephony to the people at a cost comparable to
that of other countries - This will be Telkom's nemesis in time to come.
 
The basic problem is not Telkom. It is the government.

Government has 40% of Telkom, owns Sentech, owns major parts of the SNO, appoints ICASA and total control of the making of laws and policy decisions.

If they wanted to act they could. They obviously don't so they won't.

Telecoms does not affect the majority of their voters, 40% of whom are unemployed so can't afford anything anyway.

They are making billions out of their actions, both individually and tax wise.

There just isn't any reason they should or would change the status quo anytime soon.
 
Perhaps if Mandla Lange took over the ivory tower we would see some action.
It would certainly be interesting to watch

Does she still have her job because people that look like her are blackmails?

:D:D
 
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