CommuniCat
Active Member
Original ITWeb story - http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/int....asp?A=CON&S=Consulting and IT Services&O=FPT
I had wanted to send a response to ITWeb directly with regard to this article but found their response form to be as dead as a Telkom help line . . .
<b>Anyone for salt?</b>
While I respect Mr Lotter's comments with regard to bandwidth in South Africa I personally don't agree with his sentiments that it should take years before we have acceptable and affordable bandwidth in South Africa and further fail to understand the limitations to which he is referring.
Mr Weidemann's article starts with the statement that the South African market (as represented by a sample group) wants more bandwidth presumably at a cost which is associated with international norms. Hence, we have the demand for increased bandwidth.
So then there is only the supply of sufficient bandwidth which is the problem. And that supply is controlled by Telkom and what appears to be a largely technically unsuccessful Sentech (otherwise why the need for hate sites).
Solution 1
One solution for South African users is to open the market. Let the suppliers battle it out and let the best ones win. Not possible? Just look at India. A million plus broadband connections a month! If it’s possible in India, it’s possible in Africa – simple as that. How do they do it? They open the market and allow more suppliers in than they actually need. The marvel of competition never ceases to amaze – it makes the “impossible” possible.
Solution 2
You may have noticed that in South Africa we have telephone lines. Are our ADSL modems running at their full capacity? Not a sausage. Has the uptake of ADSL been phenomenal? Not on your nelly. And why? Because ADSL in South Africa delivers half the bandwidth at twice the price of international norms. And despite their “best intentions”, which company supplies all the ADSL bandwidth? Telkom’s “best intentions”, it would appear, are to make massive profit at the expense of the South African economy in general and their users in particular. Want better ADSL bandwidth at reduced costs – Open the market!
Solution 3
Oh, then what is this I see on the miro.co.za web site – a “Wireless Outdoor Bridge / Access Point with a range up to 25 Km with Power Amplifier & Antenna”. Gee, I wonder if I put this on top of my building and linked this with direct access to an ISP, could I supply bandwidth to everyone in my immediate area? Hey, I wonder if my buddy down the road put one of these things in his office too – and we shared the infrastructure – could we supply whopping bandwidth together? And what about his friend down the next road and the next? Could this “open source” community deliver speeds of up to 11Mbps for the cost of the equipment, maintenance, electricity, ISP fees and maybe some change for participation?
Dead right.
And how much would this cost per user? The only unknown would be the ISP fees because they have to pay a (go on, have a guess which company) happy monopoly for their line to Cape Town and the undersea cable for international bandwidth.
That said, let’s say that each of us pay R200 per month at 30 users per base station – that’s income of R6 000-00 per base station per month. So let’s cut than in half – R100 per base station per month – that’s probably break even in terms of capital outlay for the equipment, upgrade and running costs. So it’s set then - R150-00 per month per user. That’s R100 per user per month for the equipment and R50-00 for the “open source” participant with the access point and/or router on their premises.
So if this would solve our bandwidth problems – why don’t we just do it? Because it’s illegal.
It was also illegal for Indians to collect their own salt in Ghandi’s time. Why? Because the British were making massive profits by selling Indians salt. Ghandi’s solution to a colonialist Telkom was to walk to the coast and get his own salt – picking up other salt collectors along the way.
So the real question is not whether affordable bandwidth is available in South Africa. Rather, it’s a question of courage. If competition does not materialise in the coming months to solve bandwidth problems for us, do any of us have the balls to go out and collect our own salt?
I had wanted to send a response to ITWeb directly with regard to this article but found their response form to be as dead as a Telkom help line . . .
<b>Anyone for salt?</b>
While I respect Mr Lotter's comments with regard to bandwidth in South Africa I personally don't agree with his sentiments that it should take years before we have acceptable and affordable bandwidth in South Africa and further fail to understand the limitations to which he is referring.
Mr Weidemann's article starts with the statement that the South African market (as represented by a sample group) wants more bandwidth presumably at a cost which is associated with international norms. Hence, we have the demand for increased bandwidth.
So then there is only the supply of sufficient bandwidth which is the problem. And that supply is controlled by Telkom and what appears to be a largely technically unsuccessful Sentech (otherwise why the need for hate sites).
Solution 1
One solution for South African users is to open the market. Let the suppliers battle it out and let the best ones win. Not possible? Just look at India. A million plus broadband connections a month! If it’s possible in India, it’s possible in Africa – simple as that. How do they do it? They open the market and allow more suppliers in than they actually need. The marvel of competition never ceases to amaze – it makes the “impossible” possible.
Solution 2
You may have noticed that in South Africa we have telephone lines. Are our ADSL modems running at their full capacity? Not a sausage. Has the uptake of ADSL been phenomenal? Not on your nelly. And why? Because ADSL in South Africa delivers half the bandwidth at twice the price of international norms. And despite their “best intentions”, which company supplies all the ADSL bandwidth? Telkom’s “best intentions”, it would appear, are to make massive profit at the expense of the South African economy in general and their users in particular. Want better ADSL bandwidth at reduced costs – Open the market!
Solution 3
Oh, then what is this I see on the miro.co.za web site – a “Wireless Outdoor Bridge / Access Point with a range up to 25 Km with Power Amplifier & Antenna”. Gee, I wonder if I put this on top of my building and linked this with direct access to an ISP, could I supply bandwidth to everyone in my immediate area? Hey, I wonder if my buddy down the road put one of these things in his office too – and we shared the infrastructure – could we supply whopping bandwidth together? And what about his friend down the next road and the next? Could this “open source” community deliver speeds of up to 11Mbps for the cost of the equipment, maintenance, electricity, ISP fees and maybe some change for participation?
Dead right.
And how much would this cost per user? The only unknown would be the ISP fees because they have to pay a (go on, have a guess which company) happy monopoly for their line to Cape Town and the undersea cable for international bandwidth.
That said, let’s say that each of us pay R200 per month at 30 users per base station – that’s income of R6 000-00 per base station per month. So let’s cut than in half – R100 per base station per month – that’s probably break even in terms of capital outlay for the equipment, upgrade and running costs. So it’s set then - R150-00 per month per user. That’s R100 per user per month for the equipment and R50-00 for the “open source” participant with the access point and/or router on their premises.
So if this would solve our bandwidth problems – why don’t we just do it? Because it’s illegal.
It was also illegal for Indians to collect their own salt in Ghandi’s time. Why? Because the British were making massive profits by selling Indians salt. Ghandi’s solution to a colonialist Telkom was to walk to the coast and get his own salt – picking up other salt collectors along the way.
So the real question is not whether affordable bandwidth is available in South Africa. Rather, it’s a question of courage. If competition does not materialise in the coming months to solve bandwidth problems for us, do any of us have the balls to go out and collect our own salt?
