Govt favours telecoms rivalry

[rpm]

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/1133.html

 

[LazyLion]

By "rivalry" they mean "everyone clamoring for a piece of the pie!!!"

 

[bwana]

I really dont believe the Government does.

 

[TiredOfWaiting]

I really dont believe the Government does.

Amen!

They definitely don't.

 

[DavidP]

What a load of bull!

 

[ShaunSA]

Government favors the gravy train! Finish and klaar!

 

[UglyKidJoe]

However, Infraco will apply for a licence of its own, in the meantime, it will sell its broadband long distance connectivity exclusively to Neotel.

Nope, the govt aren't interested in rivalry. The key word here is the dreaded 'exclusively'. That doesn't sound like a free and open market to me. Dream on folks

 

[Alchemist]

Government favors the gravy train! Finish and klaar!

I second that. Government couldn't give a rats @ss about anyone. The current government only really care about ordinary people during the months leading up to elections. After that, you're on your own for the next four or so years.

 

[swim]

I second that. Government couldn't give a rats @ss about anyone. The current government only really care about ordinary people during the months leading up to elections. After that, you're on your own for the next four or so years.

Or 2010 Soccer

 

[Tommygun]

The deemed licence would have removed from Icasa the power to grant the licence and set conditions for it.

Im assuming Telkom have a deemed licence then....

 

[ic]

Act as a subcontractor

The committee, with the agreement of the department, has already removed from the bill the provision that legislates a "deemed" licence for the new entity. The deemed licence would have removed from Icasa the power to grant the licence and set conditions for it.

Instead, Infraco will act as a sub-contractor to the new second national telecommunications operator, Neotel, and operate using Neotel's licence.

IMO that sounds like a reasonable compromise so far - just to get NeeTel up and running nationally, but wait...

However, Infraco will apply for a licence of its own, in the meantime, it will sell its broadband long distance connectivity exclusively to Neotel.

Immediately it is granted an Icasa licence it will have to provide open access at a reasonable price to all comers, including Telkom, and Neotel will lose that exclusive access.

why doesn't guavamint just stick to the original and much simpler agreement between guavamint and NeeTel, and simply sell the national fibre optic assets directly to NeeTel...or does guavamint have a much more nefarious long-term gravytrain fuel supply in mind...

Remind me again why we need Infraco - yet another incompetent & tax payer's money guzzling guavamint parastatal - in charge of running a national fibre optic network...

NeeTel: Hello, is that Infraco???, we've been trying to call you about the fibre optic network being down country-wide...
Infraco: <silence/><telkodemonopolies_on_hold_music/><silence/>
NeeTel: Hello, is anyone there?
Infraco: <recorded_message>Please call back later after our 15th tea break of the day, at 16:30</recorded_message><call_terminated/>

 

[dominic]

@ tommygun: Telkom do indeed have a deemed licence under the telecomms act (as do iBurst) - goes back to 1991 and the "corporatisation" and splitting up of the Department of Posts and Telecommunications into Telkom and the Post Office. Before that the Department had licences under the Post Office Act of 1952 and the Radio Act 1976 (iirc)

again - go read the Horwitz and Currie article which explains how telkom's licence came to be as it is

re "exclusivity"
- that word is a huge no-no under the Electronic Communications Act. The concepts of "open access" and "non-discrimination" are fundamental to the act and it specifically states that any exclusivity or monopoly rights are not allowed - this is the major issue with how they are trying to structure infracockup

it is also why the whole rule against sending a communication across a public boundary is no longer illegal of itself