Strike Up The Band

This looks great, provided the predictions take place. With the governments active role in many of the players one has one's doubts as they have not done anything positive about pricing and delivery so far, other than talk, that is!
 
"Telkom's also a threat. The fixed-line operator is said to be planning to introduce new broadband products soon. It will also reduce further the price of broadband line rentals."

I wonder if this is true! I just hope this is not going to be another pathetic atempt like dropping the line rental by 5%. They need to drop altogether!!!
 
Eassy, which will connect 17 countries, will link to Sat-3/Safe at a landing station at Mtunzini on KwaZulu Natal's north coast. From there, the system, which is ultimately capable of carrying 640 Gbit/s of data, will run 9 900 km to Port Sudan in the Red Sea. At its northern point, it will connect to a range of cable systems, including Sea-Me-We-3 and -4, Flag and Falcon.

O_O

-_-

O_O

640Gbit/s .........O_O ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo shiver
 
I wouldn't break into the chorus just yet. Ivy will stall the licenses that are required by the other operators, be sure.

DM's report does provide a glimmer of hope.
Lets hope that the powers that be wake up and fast track the legislative process, so that when Eassy is turned on, there are no obstacles stopping the other operators from getting stuck into the international broadband fray.
 
Hmmm

As part of the transaction - the change in WBS's shareholding must still be approved by the Independent Communications Authority of SA - Alan Knott-Craig Jr, the son of the Vodacom Group CEO, has been appointed as its MD and chief operating officer. Mtshali downplays any potential for collusion between WBS and Vodacom. "They are independent people," Mtshali says of the Knott-Craigs.
Click to expand...

Now... how do you do that? How do you remain independent... Must be tough
 
It has been widely reported that Telkom is charging exorbitant prices to other operators who want to use their Sat-3/Safe allocated bandwidth. The figure has been quoted as being up to six times what it should be.

Now another cable is being built (Eassy) and as usual, only certain operators are allowed to use this cable as they will require a license to do so. My fear is that this restriction on who can use this new cable will enable the elite (Telkom, SNOt, Sentech, etc...) to still charge, more or less, what Telkom is charging now for their Sat-3/Safe bandwidth. What's to stop them? Just because these elite operaots will buy the bandwidth at near cost-prices doesn't mean that we, as the consumers, will actually see bandwidth prices falling rapidly. After all, if these operators maintain their current prices when Essay comes into operation, they will make MUCH more money than they are making now.

The only way this is gonna work is if VANS operators are allowed to self provide. This will then force companies such as Telkom and SNOt to then offer much cheaper bandwidth to VANS operators so that these VANS operators will not be tempted to own their own bandwidth on this new cable. This is what is being done in other countries, the same should be done here in order to see true competition at the bandwidth-level.

I really don't understand why VANS operators should be forced to make use of Telkom (and the SNO, etc...) if self provision can, in the long run, benefit the consumers with low bandwidth pricing. This market needs to be fully liberalized!!! The President says so, the Deputy President says so, the DTI says so, ICASA says so, the industry (except Telkom) says so... but the one department than can implement this, the DoC, is dragging its feet. Talk about a bottleneck effect!!!!
 
Downwards is the trend !

Data tariffs are definitely on a irreversible downward trend ,thanks to the presence of price competition.

next step

when will the sky-high costs of voice calls start its descend ?

Lets hope the downward trend on data tariffs can also impact on voice calls soon.
 
Is it just me, or are SA consumers being treated like lab mice in a maze? Every now and then some potential tidbit of good news comes out which promises to address the difficulties and high costs we have to endure for decent communications connectivity. Each time, our hopes go up, we become a little bit pleased that things are changing for the better. The beginning of each year brings hope of a better life for all during the next 12 months

Eventually, however, our hopes are dashed and reality strikes hard. Delays and incompetency runs amok. At the end of year, one looks back sees that nothing has really changed. Sure, some companies report incredible profits, so for them and the stakeholders it was a good year. But for the country and citizens on the whole, no real change. Prices remain unreasonably high, customer service pathetic and connectivity, albeit a necessity - is only a luxury few don't worry about.

On the bright side, our telecommunications problems are helping the environment. Instead of spending hard earned cash on new cars, SA consumers can rather pay Telkom and not add to the traffic congestion, save on fuel - afterall, the costs are about the same. Hey! Maybe that's another reason why Government is so slow to reform this industry ... they want to make it even more impossible for Joe Soap to be able to buy a car and especially to maintain it. That way, maybe more people will start using public transport and they will finally have their way! LOL :p

So, yeah. I'd say it's time for this mouse to logoff and join the rest of the mice in the cage and see how long traffic will take before i get home tonight. The rain always causing havoc on the roads :mad:
 
That's one very inspiring read.
If whats mentioned in that article actually materializes then it will be the dawning of a new-era for us all!
The thought of cheap broadband, price-wars, competition and a showing of one-upmanship to Telscum brings tears to my eyes.....

Oh, God of broadband make all our wishes come true........................
 
<Q>Unlike Sat-3/Safe, Eassy will be an "open access" system, which means any company licensed to carry international telecom traffic can get access to it.</Q>

And who controls the issue of licences in this fabulous "open access" system ?
 
stoke said:
<Q>Unlike Sat-3/Safe, Eassy will be an "open access" system, which means any company licensed to carry international telecom traffic can get access to it.</Q>

And who controls the issue of licences in this fabulous "open access" system ?
Click to expand...
One would assume ICASA in SA's case and the equivalent in the other countries.
 
When we get all morbid and p#$% off about tomorrow, Duncan knows how to shine the light on reality. Very good read. I wonder if Ivy Ludite helped him to put the story together as we know they are best mates (NOT) :-)
 
The cellular companies have already cut their prices to the extent that they offer among the cheapest cellular data tariffs in the world.
Click to expand...

??!??!?!??!

For R500/month, you can get a 1GB transfer data package from Vodacom. From Vodafone in the UK, you can get an unlimited transfer data package for GBP 52.88/month, which is about R560/month. How on earth does that place us "among the cheapest cellular data tariffs in the world"?
 
mithrandi said:
??!??!?!??!

For R500/month, you can get a 1GB transfer data package from Vodacom. From Vodafone in the UK, you can get an unlimited transfer data package for GBP 52.88/month, which is about R560/month. How on earth does that place us "among the cheapest cellular data tariffs in the world"?
Click to expand...

Does it include p2p and streaming?
 
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