It’s the state’s call

[rpm]

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/1611.html

Government should let the companies in the telecom sector compete. This will lead to lower prices and a more competitive SA economy

 

[bekdik]

We believe government should allow for a sound regulatory framework and let the companies in this sector compete. That is bound to lead to lower prices — and a more competitive SA economy.

I doubt that this will happen soon while the centralist control policy is in place.

 

[tifutu]

The thing is everyone has an opinion on the current situation, but the question should be, does anyone foresee any action by the state that will benefit the public. I mean there were all these hi hopes with the announcement of the EASYy cable and then more hype with Neotel, but so far both have been covered in a shroud of doubt...

It's all good and all to say it's in the state's hand, but are we just getting our hopes up just to be bluntly let down again?

 

[Grofft]

They should make an online version of Solitaire, only then will government notice that something is wrong.

 

[ic]

SA is in the same time zone as Europe. And apparently South Africans can easily adopt a range of accents, from German to north-English Geordie.

doubtful IMO. Only a small percentage of South Africans have attempted to adopt other accents and pronunciations, just look at the sorry state of incomprehensibility that specifically plagues both the SABC and eTV - presenters that cannot speak South African English let alone make sense to anyone outside of SA.

 

[DblD]

Joseph Stiglitz is an idiot

Joseph Stiglitz is an idiot!

It's been shown over and over that he is patently wrong,Telkom was never privatized
You can't have government owning 38% and various empowerment consortia owning more than 20% additionally and call a company privatized. Especially when you are going out of your way to regulate the industry to death.

For instance, in India you have a thriving uptake of telecoms services (including in the call centers) and a decrepit rail system.

Reason is simple...

Telecoms in India is deregulated and private...rail is not

In South Africa the government is "helping" us with BOTH.

 

[SilverNodashi]

Competition DOESN'T bring down prices, it only increases them. Well, in South Africa at least. Here everyone thinks that his next big pay check will come from the first customer, and service isn't an important factor when delivering the goods.

 

[ic]

Competition DOESN'T bring down prices, it only increases them. Well, in South Africa at least.

You are wrong.

In sectors in SA where there is lots of competition, and consumers are still paying high prices, it is bcos consumers are sheepish and not asserting their right to shop around for better prices. IMO SA consumers seem to be impulse buyers that do not do much or any research before buying something, and when they discover they have made a mistake by supporting a retailer with higher pricing, they ***** & moan that it is someone else's mistake that they supported the retailer with higher pricing.

Telkodemonopolies is still the de facto wired fixed line monopoly in SA, that means that Telkodemonopolies has no effective competition, and Telkodemonopolies can charge whatever it likes for what is an essential service that South African citizens cannot live without, also the quality of Telkodemonopolies' service is far below the exorbitant pricing that consumers are forced to pay - those few that can afford it that it.

Telkodemonopolies is a parastatal, ~38% guavamentally owned, and Poison Ivy's idea of effective competition, is to introduce only one competitor into the market, this is not effective competition - numerous competitors are needed to make a market competitive, and more importantly there should not be any guavamental interference - especially not of the communistic ilk that Poison Ivy loves so much whilst lining her pockets with the contents of our wallets.

 

[antowan]

We all know the government needs to make the move to correct things. It is looking on like a rich baron in the days when Prima Nocta was still practiced in some English vestiges. We are being raped while government looks on with a big smile on its face. How long will it take people to realise this kind of inaction and acceptance only stems from corruption. It is the only logical conclusion. It may even be a corruption that is born in racism as the majority of folks who are paying customers are (I believe) white while the poor masses who are largely black use mobile phones because renting a line from Telkom is more expensive than holding a cheap mobile phone unit and a couple of Rands worth of airtime.

Whatever the reason, it is planned, deliberate and calculated. This is a vicious, hurtful and shameful exercise that government is all too aware of and is solely responsible for keeping in place. The reasons are rotten no matter from which angle you look at it. Can it be stopped? Nope. Not easily and the time it will take to stop this type of rot is more than a decade away as it has become stronger in the last decade so God actually is the only entity who is privy to this kind of insight. All I know is this isn’t going to be solved soon and some of us will most likely spend another couple of decades breathing this African air before we see a glimmer of hope that the extortion will end. Neotel will (despite my best effort at optimism in the past) be an accomplice to Telkom rather than a solid ally to consumers.
The best we can do as consumers are to set up our own networks be they legal or not. We cannot adhere to the legal boundaries set up to box us in for somebody else’s commercial gains. It is insane behaviour and I fully support people who want to safely (without jeopardising emergency services and the like) set up longer range wireless networks using technology freely supported and used overseas to enable people to communicate outside of the realms of commercial telecoms. **** EM!!! **** EM ALL!!!
The time to revolt is here and the best peaceful means to do this is to ignore the rules on mass and just send one big middle finger of communications revolution the way of Ivy Matsepe Casabury and the entire government who wants to keep us chained down like dogs or sheep to the slaughter! ****’EM! ****’EM ALL!!!
The masses will one day tear Telkom to pieces if it doesn’t change! They will have to if they want what is technically theirs! The rest of us, who can afford the exorbitant pricing for now need to start putting our money in alternatives and communicate freely as far as money and technology allows us to without using traditional communications.
It takes a big idea to do this and there are ideas around. Join them when you find them!
Run wild! Run free my brethren!