Inside SA's broadband Wild West

[The_Unbeliever]

http://www.techcentral.co.za/inside-sas-broadband-wild-west/13270/

[By Jannie van Zyl] It’s like a movie about America’s Old West. Except this is SA, and it’s not a gripping story on the silver screen where actors get shot, dust themselves off, have a good laugh, and head back to their trailers.

No, in the Wild West we’re heading into, it’s SA consumers who’ll be in the crossfire, and the damage to them will be very real.

Who’s going to be doing the shooting? A bunch of cowboy Internet service providers (ISPs) and several big landowner operators wanting to hold on to what they’ve taken.

When the dust settles and the fighting is over in two or three years, many of these guys are not going to be left standing. And many innocents will be injured.

It’s the story of the good, the bad and the ugly in SA broadband.

How did we get here?

Anyone who’s spent any time in SA’s Internet or telecommunications industry is familiar with our history — Telkom, minister Ivy, the monopoly issue. The story is all about deregulation, how badly government managed it, and the mess it got us into.

More reading here.

 

[herbertk]

Ill sign up for the Bad then ha ha...

 

[ppedrick]

This is a great article.
I've been describing South Africa as The Wild West to my friends in the UK for some time now. It's not just the internet area that it's like this.
Here's hoping for a quick and painless change, although I doubt very much that it's going to happen easily!

 

[LazyLion]

I'm still sticking with Afrihost as the current cheapest provider. I'll let the big boys duke it out.