Sentech minds its knitting

[rpm]

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/1367.html

SENTECH probably withdrew its bid for a pay-TV licence to let it concentrate on building a wireless broadband network

 

[ic]

SENTECH probably withdrew its bid for a pay-TV licence to let it concentrate on building a wireless broadband network

While I couldn't care less about Sentech withdrawing from the Pay-TV licence ITA rat race, IMO there is much more to this than Sentech and the SABC want to publicly reveal:

1. Sentech already has its existing Vivid Pay-TV service in conjunction with the SABC; AND
2. Sentech and the SABC probably didn't bother to properly investigate !CASA's Pay-TV ITA, to see if it applied to the existing Vivid service, i.e. the difference between a deemed licence and an actual licence; AND
3. In true monopolistic form [how many public broadcasters are there?], the SABC knows it wouldn't be able to compete with Pay-TV services, so the SABC doesn't want to run its own Pay-TV service & infrastructure - the SABC prefers to twist !CASA's guavamental arm into forcing all Pay-TV licensees into both carrying SABC content and paying the SABC for that content; AND
4. The Sentech & SABC Pay-TV licence application was incomplete due to Sentech's failure to obtain funding approval [as required by legislation] from the Treasury Department; AND
5. It will be quite a while before Sentech can rollout wireless broadband to rural areas - IMO due to the whole guavamental Infraco stuffup.

 

[AirWolf]

Sentech don't want to compromise their current service offerings - mwahahaha Please raise your hands all 5 of Sentech's data subscribers