eMail&Guardian on Telkom.

[kaspaas]

I notice it is not only us who are slightly upset by Telkom []

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?o=27883&sa=19
Dial M for miracle

Robert Kirby: LOOSE CANNON

29 August 2003 12:26



In a way I’ve been saving up this column for years. What inspires it is the commercial horror that millions of South Africans have had to undergo over their lives, what must cost this country literally billions every year in lost business, what causes more personal stress and outrage than is measurable, what is little short of a national disgrace.

The name of this affliction is what is called our telephone service — and if ever there was an oxymoron that is it. What we now know as Telkom was once called the Telephone Department, those names the only noticeable difference between the appalling excuse for a telephone system under the previous government, and the appalling excuse for a telephone system under this one.

There’s no one without a nightmare story about the telephones in this country. In the old days you could apply for a telephone service and then sit for several years before getting one. One thing I’ll say for those days is that, however long you waited, once installed, the darned things tended to work. <read the rest on the web - M&G deserves some ad income from this[^]>

 

[plug]

I don't think his a loose Cannon. His probably fed-up.. just like the rest of many of us.

 

[ASF]

I must say that Mr Kirby hist the nail on the head here -

"Where do we lay the blame for our embarrassing telephone system? Should we start by pointing a finger at Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, who must rank as one of the Cabinet’s single most inept office-holders..."

The shambles that is the deregulation process is directly her fault. She should be held accountable - fix or move along (replace with expletive if desired).

 

[oblix]

If i could i would place the blame squarly on goverment, and the so called minister that control the telecomunications department. It is a pitty that we have to have people like this controlling our country. If you look at our neibouring countrys, they are smaller but have a better telecommunications department that us. one of the large UK service providers (Orange) has opened offices in Botswana. WHY NOT IS S.A.??? or will someone will loose money ??

 

[bullstein]

Corruption Corruption Corruption

Even for Africa, I think we have a total corrupt system. I am not talking politics now, but we have seen for years and years that everyone who got some power just used it to butter their own bread. And bugger the rest. It is time that someone in Government took a stand and ends this nonsense. That way things will go better right down to us "uninformed" adsl users.

 

[herbs]

As somebody who has walked the halls and passages of Telkom, I can concur that Telkom is also at the mercy of unscrupulous purchasing and logistics managers.

All the big Telco manufacturing companies, Ericsson, Alcatel, Cisco, Nortel, Marconi, Siemens et al bid for slices of the telco market in SA. And the people who make the purchasing decisions are invariably goverment (read ANC) appointees. So whatever "supplier", usually a third party, supplies the equipment is to be assumed is the one who "sweetened" the deal enough for the manager / director involved.

Case in point, I was asked to evaluate a set electronic testing equipmet. All pretty std stuff, meters, oscilloscopes etc. When I asked whether we could maybe investigate a solution set that directly interfaces with the support system, I was turned down. I firmly believe it was because the manufacturers of these systems weren't as susceptible to sweetening the deal. Cost wasn't an issue. Every technician was willing to pay the R350 to buy the module and software and the R250/annum subscription fee. it saves a lot of writing and typing you see.

Didn't go for it because, the bidders who were not "able" to deliver such a prodcut were South African (read Black Empowerment).

If you think the world on international arms trade is murky and capable of corrupting Vice Presidents, welcome to the Telco sector and be prepared to be amazed.

 

[microfast]

Now we are getting to the heart of the matter [}]

Do we have a democracy ??

Do we have government for the people, by the people ??

OR

Do we have business for the government, by the government
with the people's money. ?

Let me add : The corporations are profiteering with an
easily picked off government who make the rules (laws) to
suit the game.

There is a <i><font color="red"><b>hoover hovering over our country</b></font id="red"></i> and it is only programmed to suck up money
- it spews out anything else.