BMI-T Digital Cities Forum 2005

[rpm]

Hi folks

We are currently attending the BMI-T conference on Digital Cities. The deputy minister has just finished his presentation and he is very supportive of the concept of digital cities. What is however more encouraging is that he continually mentioned ‘Affordable Broadband’ and the importance of broadband. On many occasions he mentioned that affordability is paramount to ensure improved services and penetration.

Regards,

RPM

 

[rpm]

Hi folks

Greg Richardson from Civitium is currently presenting a paper on Digital Cities in the US, and he makes a very strong case for municipal broadband provisioning. He also highlights the value of wireless networks (WiFi in specific) in broadband provisioning. He is looking at various business models of which many is applicable to the SA environment.

Regards,

RPM

 

[antowan]

Damn I hate being sick at home! All the fun stuff is happening now! Good work RPM! Seeing as you are reading this on your laptop at the conference, why not hook up a webcam and post pictures to the site every minute or so?

I can recommend a simple proggy for that! We really should do that in future! If not streaming audio and video at least an auto refreshing pic or something.

Give us some facts there! Any mention of the current infrastructure? Length of fibre in Pretoria and JHB etc.

 

[dominic]

awesome thanks rpm - was hoping to be at this one

i was told the minister herself would be opening and that there was going to be an important policy announcement with regard to local municipalities...no sign of that i take it?

look out for the Uninet presentation - they are busy doing what others are talking about

also if you get any materials from the conference please make these available

dominic

 

[rpm]

Hi folks

We have returned from today’s proceedings at the BMI-T Digital Cities conference. Most of the discussions focused on wireless technologies (Sentech, Wimax…) and their role in developing a digital city. A few articles from Cara about the conference will follow.

An encouraging observation about this conference and many others is the positive attitude of people towards MyADSL. I always meet many pleasant and knowledgeable people at these conferences and all of them have great respect for our site. Most of the Telkom guys at these events prove to be pleasant and open minded. I had a long discussion with a Telkom rep today…a really nice guy. I just wish this positive attitude can somehow filter through…

Thanks a bunch to all of you for your continual participation in this forum and for your willingness to share your knowledge and experience. I do not think you guys always know how much influence you have.

Regards,

RPM

 

[curiouswanderer]

was nice to get to meet u for the first time rpm.

The Telkom presentation was a big waste of time. They didnt say much except how much they are helping with pc penetration and reasons why prices will drop when there is competition. Telkom is slowly committing political and business suicide.

One interesting quote from one of the delegates, Dr Naidoo, was: In an initiative in the US, homeless people pay $5 for a 1Mbit line. In South Africa you'll go homeless if u get a 1 mbit line. Quite depressing actually when taken seriously.