EASSy to compete head on with SAT3

Great news.

Readng this and listening to the latest podcast, its going to be interesting to see the financial gymnastics display that will effectively take the cheapest bandwidth in the world and morph it into the most expensive.

The cable is definately overdue and it will no doubt be beneficial to all users in one way or another.
 
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4th quarter 2007, a bit later than they would of liked I'm sure, but not to long to go.
 
Another view to the Eassy cable from the dungeons of Telkom.
Last year, former CEO Sizwe Nxasana said Telkom would think twice about investing in EASSy if it was forced to reduce the fees it charged rival operators to use its bandwidth on Sat-3, a cable connecting Portugal to Johannesburg, in which Telkom owns a 13% stake.

The communications regulator is debating whether Sat-3 is an essential service, and whether it should force Telkom to cut its access fees.

If Telkom was forced to slash its fees and could not recoup its costs, it might withdraw from EASSy, Nxasana said. Yesterday Telkom said it was still considering the investment in the EASSy cable and had not made a final decision on the amount it planned to invest.
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http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/economy.aspx?ID=BD4A143323
These okes will withhold funding and stall this cable as long as they can, be sure. **dreams**Telkom should really be excluded from Eassy given their domination of SAT3 bandwidth in our region.
 
Sounds very good. Excellent!

The best part of the SNO is that Tata is a major international player with a big investment in the new SEA-ME-WE 4 (www.seamewe4.com) terrabit cable system. EASSy will eventually link up South-Africa to this superfast fiber link.

Then we will see the downfall of Telkom, who would then still try to sell 1MB bandwidth on SAT3/SAFE cable at the prices the SNO charges for 1GB.
 
Pity that Telkom still owns the local loop, and unbundling seems to be years away, if ever.. Government will listen to Telkom when it comes to thwarting low prices.
 
If Telkom was forced to slash its fees and could not recoup its costs, it might withdraw from EASSy, Nxasana said.
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Here's hoping that happens...
 
This looks promising

Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Sentech and the SNO are all part of the EASSy project, and they will have the option to purchase excess bandwidth and act as resellers.
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Telkom should be excluded though imho. Conflict of interest. Oh well... IBIWISI - I'll believe it when I see it. Great potential.. but reminds me of pre-election campaigning.

Agree with MAD on the local loop too... cheap international bandwidth is a big part of the price issue, but what can we do if Telkom want to charge exorbitant local loop prices.
 
"Mr John Sihra, Project Coordinator for EASSy, said in an interview with MyADSL that they will compete head on with SAT3 and that their bandwidth rates will be very competitive."
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I just hope he didn't mean the South African definition of "competitive".
 
Well this might be the solution to the problem we have with our bw issues :P

hopefully they will provide the service instead of idle promises.
 
I will believe it when I c it ....
remember telskum is still a big investor and also these guys will try to recoup their costs of the system.... so they will probably not decrease prices until 2010 ... lets face it ... this is what all this is leading up to .... rape the country until then ... and provide cheap stuff to the international visitors and show them how progressive we are :(
 
MaD said:
Pity that Telkom still owns the local loop, and unbundling seems to be years away, if ever.. Government will listen to Telkom when it comes to thwarting low prices.
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but its grip on the wireless local loop is loosening fast....

i believe that very soon we will see the major metros - tshwane, joburg, erkhuleni, durbs, cape town - bringing their considerable influence to bear as they seek to expand their municipal-use PTNs into public-use PTNs....this will provide the political will required to put everyone's favourite monopoly in their place
 
Sneeky said:
Another view to the Eassy cable from the dungeons of Telkom.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/economy.aspx?ID=BD4A143323
These okes will withhold funding and stall this cable as long as they can, be sure. **dreams**Telkom should really be excluded from Eassy given their domination of SAT3 bandwidth in our region.
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I am just happy the SNO is a major player in this cable. They HAVE to get the necessary rights etc to snip Telkom out of the picture should Telkom play hardball.

If Telkom were to do that, my response is short and sweet: "Stuff Telkom!" They can open a portion of the cable to public funding and ask Joe Public via an IPO or the likes to buy shares in the cable. I would easily spend a couple of grand to help toward replacing Telkom's possible lost contribution...
 
The SNO is here to make business and hence a profit. SA will not see any significant reductions in costs and improvement in quality of service from our Telecoms industry, and yes, Telkom heading it, unless the government makes major political and social changes. The cookie jar is just getting bigger, now with the SNO beginning its operations. Even the EASSY consortium's prices are going to be competative?! Yep, they will be, to the SP not the public.

Here's hoping that I'm wrong.

Until we have a strong Telecoms Regulator, with real powers, you can forget about telecoms prices coming down. ICASA must have powers to determine and apply pricing of telecoms in SA.
 
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lol poor basteds

dominic said:
but its grip on the wireless local loop is loosening fast....

i believe that very soon we will see the major metros - tshwane, joburg, erkhuleni, durbs, cape town - bringing their considerable influence to bear as they seek to expand their municipal-use PTNs into public-use PTNs....this will provide the political will required to put everyone's favourite monopoly in their place
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It doesn't sound too good for Telkom at all.

When can I start purchasing shares in Uninet? :D
 
EASSy will enable any ISP (Internet Service Provider) or organization with an international service license to purchase bandwidth on the cable at reasonable rates.
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So what ISP or organization got an international service license in South Africa , are we talking Telkom and SNO here or can a ISP like SAOL or whoever aquire such a license and provide us some cheaper bandwith?
 
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I believe the SNO has the potential to drop the prices, the telecoms part of TATA in India charges R40 for a 256k connection with 500 megs of bandwith. Thats a frikken sweet deal if I ever saw it. I may be slightly wrong but I am 90% sure that is how much it costs...havent been to India in a while but my brother was there recently and said something vaguely to that amount.
 
zolly said:
I believe the SNO has the potential to drop the prices, the telecoms part of TATA in India charges R40 for a 256k connection with 500 megs of bandwith. Thats a frikken sweet deal if I ever saw it. I may be slightly wrong but I am 90% sure that is how much it costs...havent been to India in a while but my brother was there recently and said something vaguely to that amount.
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it is fact that potential is all it will be for some time - the snot crew will like the high prices as much as telkom does

remember "we will not differentiate on price" (and from their perspective it would be a silly thing to do given how much money they have and will put in)
 
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