ISP industry became far too compliant

there has definitely been a claming down in the fight vs telkom as the isp's have settled in and become protective over what the have

but there are still plenty of ISPs out there who are fighting extremely hard to improve universal access and pricing

- the cover of the next ITWeb Brainstorm Magazine will bear me out :)
 
Would be great if some of the ISP's would breath fire into this market in a big way, especially regarding SAT-3 and next year ( April / June '07?) when the monopoly on this cable ends.
 
Sneeky said:
Would be great if some of the ISP's would breath fire into this market in a big way, especially regarding SAT-3 and next year ( April / June '07?) when the monopoly on this cable ends.
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Why? Most, it would seem, are quite content with the various niches they've found and have no intention of disturbing the status quo.
 
By most you no doubt mean a few of the big players, no?
Not everyone is happy and content with their little piece of the pie, if they are, then theres no hope.
 
The article could do with some editing.

But the good news from Frankel and Todes is that the industry is an exciting and dynamic one, and that the winners in this industry will be the ones who have really pushed the boundaries and fought hard.
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Surely, it would only become good news if and when the industry pushes the boundaries and fights hard. Not too much evidence of that at the moment.

ISPs, in general, have shown that they are far more concerned about preserving margins than they are about leading the fight for better broadband service in SA.
 
Sneeky said:
By most you no doubt mean a few of the big players, no?
Not everyone is happy and content with their little piece of the pie, if they are, then theres no hope.
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By most I meant the majority.

I havent seen many proactive measures. Have there been ad campaigns pointing finger at telkom or the gvt?

Has there been legal action against SAIX/Telkoms anticompetitive practices since dotco settled? How many isp's have passed on the August 1st reduction in wholesale prices? Perhaps they're just topping up their war-chests but I doubt it.

There is a minority, a few ISPs that are pushing the boundaries and they should be commended but the majority are just going with the flow.
 
Profits...

ISPs, in general, have shown that they are far more concerned about preserving margins than they are about leading the fight for better broadband service in SA.

Couldn't have said it better myself.....
 
Should 'compliant' not be 'complacent'?
 
'Compliant' would be okay but saying that the industry has become far too 'complaint' is right out.
 
Todes added that ISPs must do their best to motivate government out of their stasis and into action.
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yeah good luck with that.
 
ISPs, in general, have shown that they are far more concerned about preserving margins than they are about leading the fight for better broadband service in SA.
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Do you think ISPs are non profit organizations? Would you not be preserving margins is you had to buy from SAIX and compete with them as well?
I am sure you are still at school. This is business.
 
bluefox8080 said:
Do you think ISPs are non profit organizations? Would you not be preserving margins is you had to buy from SAIX and compete with them as well?
I am sure you are still at school. This is business.
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You can lower margins and still make profit through higher volumes. Look at Virgin's business model if you need an example.

They teach that at school too. :rolleyes:
 
Most ISPs have been careful about staying within the law as the moment Telkom sensed any kind of legal transgretion by a competitor they would cry wolf to ICASSA and also simply cut them off. As an ISP with business customers and to a lesser extent home users you cant afford to have outages and customers will very rarely see Telkom as the ones at fault.
The real transgressors are the private companies (bless them) who run wireless up and down the country and from building to building. How many transcievers can you see in CPT CBD alone? As far as I know this is illegal but if ICASSA really wanted to enforce the regulations on moving data privately accross public highways and accross disparate erfs they would probably close many businesses and put a lot of people out of work so these kinds of illegal connections are tacitly ignored. ISPs are generally cowards but with good reason.
 
Tommygun said:
Most ISPs have been careful about staying within the law as the moment Telkom sensed any kind of legal transgretion by a competitor they would cry wolf to ICASSA and also simply cut them off. As an ISP with business customers and to a lesser extent home users you cant afford to have outages and customers will very rarely see Telkom as the ones at fault.
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When my adsl goes down the very first person I blame is Telkom - I would think that due to the billing structure most people would - my monthly Telkom bill is big ugly reminder of just how much blame they deserve.

Besides, who's suggesting any unlawful action by the ISPs? And more to the point what do you have in mind and how can I help ;)
The real transgressors are the private companies (bless them) who run wireless up and down the country and from building to building. How many transcievers can you see in CPT CBD alone? As far as I know this is illegal but if ICASSA really wanted to enforce the regulations on moving data privately accross public highways and accross disparate erfs they would probably close many businesses and put a lot of people out of work so these kinds of illegal connections are tacitly ignored. ISPs are generally cowards but with good reason.
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O/T I know but is it unlawful with the enactment of the ECA?
 
Just remember, higher volumes don't just come overnight, it's based on a gradual growth. Virgin didn't get as big as they are overnight, they grew gradually and through good business decisions were able to over time reduce rates, thereby growing even further.

Broadband in SA is incredibly restricted at the moment, the growth is not sufficient enough to warrant large-scale reductions in price as that would result in it becoming an unprofitable service, it's okay to make only R1 on a service if you have a million or two users, because then you make a million or 2 bucks a month (nice), it's absolutely ridiculous to have a R1 margin when you're only selling 1000 accounts, because then you're not even making a fraction of what is needed to pay ONE employee to support that service. That doesn't include other sundry costs such as advertising, building costs, rates and taxes, telephone costs, and expansion into other markets and services. ISP's such as IS and UUNet that pay for their own IPC links have to make that cost back somehow, they're not running a charity, those links are expensive, so is international transit, which they ALSO have to pay for.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.
 
Tommygun said:
The real transgressors are the private companies (bless them) who run wireless up and down the country and from building to building. How many transcievers can you see in CPT CBD alone? As far as I know this is illegal but if ICASSA really wanted to enforce the regulations on moving data privately accross public highways and accross disparate erfs they would probably close many businesses and put a lot of people out of work so these kinds of illegal connections are tacitly ignored. ISPs are generally cowards but with good reason.
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Exactly how do wireless network bridges encroach on ISP's turf? Don't try to tell me they're doing us all a favour by not going to the toothless beast.

Besides according to the president's comittee it's a wireless free-for-all:
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2006/0609051120.asp?S=Broadband&A=BRO&O=FPLEAD
 
Hi Reech,
Interesting Article.
"Dyson emphasised that individuals should be able to resell Internet services, an opinion she expressed on Sunday at president Thabo Mbeki's International Advisory Council, of which she is a member"

The opperative word here is "should" and not "can".

Things may well have changed in recent months and they have certainly changed in the last couple of years (not much) but as far as I know only Sentech, Transtel and Telkom had licences to transmit data across proprties and roads ( A few more now like iburst and the others) but you need a licenced carrier legaly even if I wnant to connect to my next door neighbour. Of course people do anyway but thats not the point. Dont get me wrong I want liberalization and agree with all said in the article
http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/inte...A=BRO&O=FPLEAD
Bwana, when I say "customers will very rarely see Telkom as the ones at fault" Im talkng about if your ISP happens to be UUNET or IS or MWEB etc. Invariably people will say Mweb are rubbish etc not knowing the full story (not to sxay ISPs dont screw up also)
 
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