Fun with the Electronic Communications Act part 1

[Prometheus]

but the class licence to self-provision your own network is far easier to get - there is a 60 day registration process (if ICASA don't get back to you within 60 days then it is regarded as having been granted)......these licences will be available to ISPs and the current VANS

I guess we can assume then that all licenses are hereby granted

 

[bekdik]

I will read my wife's You Magazines instead.

QUOTE]
Rubbish. You bought them for yourself.

 

[Roman4604]

Call me a pessimist, but I dont see anything wildly exciting for the short to medium term in the Act. While its creates a framework for the potential of competition & price reductions, the power to convert the potential to reality still vests clearly with the Authority (ICASA) and the Minister (DoC) ... and we know their track record.

Also while these 'class' licenses see to be quite a boon on paper, when you start thinking about the practicalities they don't look so rosy. Firstly there is no entitlement for wireless, you still need a seperate radio frequency spectrum license to do that (even the so called 'license free' ISM bands; 2.4 & 5.8 GHz). So how many ISP have the appetite & dosh to roll out their own wired networks, even on a district/metro level?... not many I suspect. Maybe this will spurn a symbiotic market where ISPs and town/metro councils do it together?

Next since ISPs are in the Internet business, they're still going to need an 'individual' license holder to haul their traffic around the country & international. Since this is where most of the cost of an Internet service lie, having your own wired local loop self provisioning isn't going to make you that much more economically viable.

Maybe I'm missing the big picture?

 

[captainwifi]

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=38375
p.15 ...paraphrased
6. Icasa may prescribe the type of electronic communications networks that may be operated without a license such as:
(a) electronic communications services provided on a not-for-profit basis operated via small electronic communications networks such as local area networks.
===============================================
Interpretation in plain english
And thus we can plant our telephone poles and tunnel under roads laying
our fiber/copper between houses until Icasa says we can't. Nowhere
does the ECA says that data isn't allowed to cross boundaries for non-profit
networks. Icasa may though at it's discretion ban data from crossing boundaries, but I doubt they will.

But reading p.12,13,14,15 it is clear that Icasa may not perscribe
the type of non-profit network used by council. Thus all dappermuis license
holders should partner with council as quick as possible.

 

[captainwifi]

http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=2817
"...Much groundwork, therefore, remains to be done before the act can become operational. We suggest that it is several years away from that."

Icasa will first have to get inputs from the public before they prescribe
regulations as they may do for non-profit networks. At present Telkom simply
orders them what to do and then Icasa decrees to the broaband peasants Telkom's decision.

The ECA compels transparency in Icasa's rulings, they can't just decree stuf,
they must first consult with all relevent stake holders. Icasa won't have the time to hold hearings on p.15, they must deal with the commercial entities first and leave the non-profit concerns for later.

This provides the public with an oppertunity to form a fixed wired powerblock.

 

[Tunasashimi]

In a nutshell, what have you guys learnt from this act, so far? Any paved highways to free local calls?

 

[bwana]

In a nutshell, what have you guys learnt from this act, so far? Any paved highways to free local calls?

Consult a lawyer.

 

[Tunasashimi]

Consult a lawyer.

I can't afford one of the three that actually know, because Telkom has all my money.

Any other ideas? I thought you read this whole act, and discussed it here with the other free-time heroes of the public, telecoms freedom fighters....

Come, out with it!

Actually, the main thing is, I am not an AI and hence, have very limited erlangs linking the world of information to my brain. If it is up to me to find out, I may get some "mysterious disease" and die before I get around to putting it to good use.