Agreement That Cheap Broadband in SA is 'Unrealistic'

[rpm]

http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=664

 

[TheRoDent]

Wow. Lesley Stones is a bit off-beat on this!

Vodacom, for example, has cut the cost of its data downloads from R40000 for a gigabit of data eight months ago to 50c today.

Show me the Gig please, for 50c, and I'll fscking buy it right now. Even if there was a typo, and let's say the real number was supposed to be R4000 for a gig, I have yet to see the Vodacom contract that offers a gig for 50c currently, as claimed by this article.

For once MTN, Telkom and other service providers agree — saying it is not feasible to offer fast internet access at the bargain prices other countries enjoy.

Once again, reporters, that are out of their depth, report on stuff they have no inkling of, and then do so inaccurately. Does the agreement of Vodacom, MTN, and Telkom mean that it's a consensus? Hardly an article worthy the title, if Winston Smith and Sentech certainly didn't agree! And I can honestly say, that Winston is absolutely CORRECT in his assertion.

What a CRAP article. Lesley Stones. Go Home! Start reporting on celebrities or something.

RPM. If this is the kind of content that the BDFM syndication is going to be producing, I would seriously recommend that you skip the few grand on these kind of articles. I can happily whip up the same crap for 30 minutes spent each day.

 

[Peter7]

What a load of crud: "Cheap Broadband in SA is 'Unrealistic'"
The problem here is that each "competitor" (MTN,VODACOM & TELKOM) is in the same syndicate, not wanting to reduce the price inline with international trends b/c they enjoy profiteering at the sake of it's consumers.
I say ICASA should enforce lower pricing against all members of the "syndicate" or open the market and let international companies come in who can do the job these companies don't want to do.

Really hacks me off!

 

[TheRoDent]

No. The problem is that the reporter is confused about megabytes and gigabytes.

 

[rpm]

Wow. Lesley Stones is a bit off-beat on this!

Show me the Gig please, for 50c, and I'll fscking buy it right now. Even if there was a typo, and let's say the real number was supposed to be R4000 for a gig, I have yet to see the Vodacom contract that offers a gig for 50c currently, as claimed by this article.

Once again, reporters, that are out of their depth, report on stuff they have no inkling of, and then do so inaccurately. Does the agreement of Vodacom, MTN, and Telkom mean that it's a consensus? Hardly an article worthy the title, if Winston Smith and Sentech certainly didn't agree! And I can honestly say, that Winston is absolutely CORRECT in his assertion.

What a CRAP article. Lesley Stones. Go Home! Start reporting on celebrities or something.

RPM. If this is the kind of content that the BDFM syndication is going to be producing, I would seriously recommend that you skip the few grand on these kind of articles. I can happily whip up the same crap for 30 minutes spent each day.

Hi TheRoDent

I contemplated not publishing the article due to the dubious content, but decided to put it up as an alternative view to the previous articles regarding the Broadband Shootout. I find it very strange that Lesley selected this angle for the article…maybe to cause a bit of a stir? The discussions were particularly stale (as usual) which might explain this strange approach...

Regards,

RPM

 

[caroper]

RPM. If this is the kind of content that the BDFM syndication is going to be producing, I would seriously recommend that you skip the few grand on these kind of articles. I can happily whip up the same crap for 30 minutes spent each day.

Rodent has a valid point RPM.
You should at least point out the inaccuracy’s to Inet.
As a Data gathering company the accuracy of their data is meant to be the stock in trade.
Such B**l in what they probably consider a minor matter, could (should) taint prospective customers views of their Stock Market reports and other market analysis data.

 

[TheRoDent]

Well, this is obviously just a syndicated article. The article appears as is on the business day website: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/technology.aspx?ID=BD4A89434

Hardly I-Net's fault, but still a real crock of an article. Not too sure that this angle on the article was selected to create a stir... I have a feeling it's just lack of depth.

 

[LoneGunman]

- complain to Inet
- then (always good) find out who the person's Editor is, and complain to them, so it gets officially noted. Ask the editor what steps will be taken to correct the total inaccuracies in the article.

- after that - someone should phone this journalist and ask where they studied journalism - so we all know which institute of learning is now churning out press release rewriters in lieu of actual journalists. (and maybe, for sheets and giggles,
one we find that out, send that Journalism Dpt a link to this thread, so that they
get irked at having their name dragged through the mud, because of this person.)


"If thine enemy smite thee on one cheek, SMASH them on the other, and give them
much to ruminate over, so that they may learn the error of their ways."

 

[Karnaugh]

A little bit of a clueless article.

Some points of reading for Lesley Stones:
* Dark Fibre (google it)
* Wireless solutions

 

[justinct]

Does anyone have this reporters cellphone number or email address?
Prefferably email address so that i can email him/her a wonderful email explaining what the job of a journalist is and what a load of bullsh1t that article was.

Im sick of what telkom says being accepted as the law and as truth. ffs.

 

[asmith]

Well despite the inacuries, the comments made by the players in this article are just total nonsense.

IT is unrealistic for South Africans to expect broadband services to become as cheap as they are in other countries

We do expect it, and it is certainly not unrealistic.

The geographic nature of SA and its distance from the main internet lines of the US and Europe are major cost barriers, the players said.

This has nothing to do with it. SAT3 costs are not actualy that high, it is just Telkom that charges high prices for access to it. Access to SAT3 is 5 times less costly in some of our neighbouring countries, and the international component of ADSL line and bandwidth costs only makes up about 20% of the fee. Australia and NZ manage to provide cheap broadband and are also far from the EU and US.

SA would not see the low prices enjoyed in Korea, where everyone lives in easy-to-connect high rise buildings, said Telkom's technical product development executive, Steve Lewis. "At the end of Africa putting in undersea cables costs money, which has to be recovered," he said.

What on earth does the one have to do with the other anyhow? Telkom already has the cables to houses or wireless solutions, so the local loop is in place and ready to provide broadband here in SA. Installing fibre in the sea may actualy be cheaper than hauling it over land, and its not a major component of bandwidth costs.

Next year MTN and Vodacom aim to introduce "Super 3G", or high-speed download packet access technology, to transmit data at 2Mb per second

What's the point? Current 3g systems crawl as it is. You may have speed from the phone to the tower, but it goes to hell from there due to lack of a fast backbone connecting the towers to the internet.

About 62% of the cost of providing a broadband service was soaked up in paying Telkom for access to international bandwidth, said Winston Smith of Sentech's My Wireless service.

I actualy do not believe that figure. But if its true, Winston please provide us with a local bandwidth only solution with a 62% discounted price.

 

[Vio]

HAH, i'd love to see them try and roll out 4g when it becomes available. The speeds saposed to be between 100mbit and a gigabit according too if your standing still or moving.

 

[kedul]

Even if it never becomes as cheap .. even at double the price it would still be great

 

[Sneeky]

50cents per gig, can we hold them to that!!!

 

[mystic]

asmith, I couldn't have said it better! Why don't you email it to Business Day: busday@bdfm.co.za

 

[doobiwan]

Sure they'll give you 100MBps, they'll be happy to, in fact they'll give you a free phone and no addition cost on your current Data contract.

Except that you'll chew through your 1Gb cap in 80 seconds and rack up costs at R12.50 a second after that . . . .

 

[Slinky511nx7]

Dark Fibre (google it)

Poop???

 

[stormwalkerza]

ROFL ... I remember an article on IOL where the person was talking about how viruses can infect yr computer so quickly (netsky/ netblast or whatever the big ones were) and how it can infect your pc even if it was off ... LOL ... called iol and refered to the article ... 2 mins and it was "fixed" ....

 

[Sneeky]

I have phoned business day, the journalist is out of the office till Tuesday and the newsdesk number just rings. Have left a message on the journo's cell phone.

 

[ebis]

Well, it's hardly surprising that these telecoms operators made such stupid remarks about low prices not being feasible in SA. After all, if they were to say otherwise, then the public would then ask them why the hell they're charging high prices in the first place!!!

Instead of trying to force them to cut their costs down, more competition is needed. It's as simple as that. That's how most other countries deal with such idiotic operators. Trying to use regulations to force these operators to play game is merely an artificial solution. We need operators who are WILLING to help SA be an information society, not operators who need to be forced to do so with regulations.

Unfortunately, the DoC doesn't see it this way. The government seems to think EVERYTHING can be solved via multiple, strict (and confusing) regulations.