Tick-tock Minister, tick-tock

Excellent points, but do you seriously think she is going to put down her donut and actually read all of that? :rolleyes:
 
I doubt she uses the internet, I don't think she even knows about his reaction.
 
blah blah blah blah blah. She is minister of communications so I guess yakking is her main function.
 
I'd bet my left nut that she doesn't answer a single question raised in that article.

Sad actually, cos these are the things that the DOC should have sorted out years ago.
 
What people really need is a complete breakdown of the costs involved with an ISP providing 1GB of data to the publlic. I am not in the business, but I know something of it through various sources and from what I have heard the public has no idea how much of the cost of 1GB goes directly to Telkom (backhual, etc...), Icasa (licensing fees), DoC (probably some other licenses), Government in general (taxes), BEE (Costs involved with compliance). Not to mention the oppressiveness of having to have fees calculated on a percentage of profits before taxes. Things like that.

Because Dina is spouting nonsense about public-private cooperation, but my perception is that they want to hold hands with an industry that they have been molesting for ages now.

And I for one would love to get the complete picture myself and hear the outcry when people realize that the biggest part of the cost of internet is basically one big tax.
 
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You tell them Tim.

Bundling telephone lines with ADSL lines is a further problem which needs to be addressed. Real pre-paid options are attractive to the lower income families as our mobile network operators around the world have proved. Fixed line providers would be no different.
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Aside from a business case point of view,technically, can ADSL not be provisioned on a real pre-paid basis?Say,from installation(having paid install fee) you have a grace period of.... 3 months?.. if line is inactive during that period then the circuit is switched off,necessitating the payment of the installation fee to re-activate...then data(ISP costs) and how deep your pockets are determining the rest of your access to broadband.
 
Good points all round. Lack of good points isn't the problem though. The issues holding back ICT are so obvious that everybody can see them...except the people in charge apparently.

The private sector had better haul ass though since I'm pretty sure we are due for a cabinet reshuffle again soon. Then we get some minister who has zero clue about the portfolio he/she is assigned & we can start from scratch. Then 2 years latter the new minister is finally familiar with his/her portfolio & then promptly gets moved to some entirely unrelated area. Repeat ad infinitum.
 
+1000 Tim!!

Dina Pule spoke at a conference I attended earlier this week and it was the same speech again, no deliverables, just noble broad goals. So frustrating. They could honestly start with something not too aggressive, but very useful like a schools network. Hell it doesn't even need to access the internet, at least school content can be made available efficiently and information from schools can get to the department easily.
 
Bern said:
+1000 Tim!!

Dina Pule spoke at a conference I attended earlier this week and it was the same speech again, no deliverables, just noble broad goals. So frustrating. They could honestly start with something not too aggressive, but very useful like a schools network. Hell it doesn't even need to access the internet, at least school content can be made available efficiently and information from schools can get to the department easily.
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*Sigh* Depressing.
 
Tim Wyatt Gunning said:
Quite simply, business hates a policy and regulatory vacuum. It creates uncertainty and raises risk, making any investment unattractive to shareholders and investors alike.

There is currently no certainty around any number of issues. Industry is still waiting on Local Loop Unbundling (LLU). We were assured in 2007 that it would be complete by 2011. We were also told that by 2008 we would have access to Telkom’s copper infrastructure.

The murky waters of the delayed and further delayed spectrum allocation continues to frustrate many companies who are ready and waiting to deliver connectivity to our rural areas.

In fact, our entire national ICT policy is in stasis after the Minister announced in April that a full review of national policy including legislation was to take place. We are still waiting for a document to review and make comments on.
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FWIW, I think the private sector should unite against the DoC and spell it out for Dinosaurus Pule, tell her repeatedly and very publicly that the private sector cannot and will not invest until such time as she and her department get their act together with policy decisions and spectrum allocations that are set in stone after extensive review by the private sector and consumers alike.

The situation at the moment that Pule is abusing to her full advantage, is one of shifting blame away from herself and her department onto the private sector. The private sector needs to land a KO punch to her chin and make it clear that the minister and her department are at fault and nothing will happen until she rectifies the situation. The message also needs to get through to Zuma that a competent minister is needed at the DoC and not a cadre deployment.
 
Damnit Tim :D...why isn't he running the show for us :(

Bloody minister better read this, anyone have her email so we can forward this article to her :) :whistle:

Edit: used the DoC's contact form and emailed the article, can everyone forward it too please. Contact form here :p
 
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