keng
Well-Known Member
Sentech
OFF TO A SHAKY START
By Marina Bidoli
Sentech plans to tackle Telkom head-on, but new developments aren't promising
In a sign of potential trouble for Sentech, multimedia group executive Angelo Roussos has quit the state-owned broadcasting signal distribution and telecom company, just weeks before it's due to launch its long-awaited wireless, broadband Internet service.
Roussos' departure signals a lack of faith in Sentech's ability to deliver a viable and sustainable alternative Internet-based service offering to Telkom's asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) product.
A medical doctor turned entrepreneur, who sold his satellite Internet business Infosat to Sentech, Roussos is tired of Sentech's bureaucratic culture and strategic direction.
"I am disappointed," he says. "The multimedia launch has been scaled back significantly."
He says he wanted a separate brand for the new offering but was denied control of marketing. The clash may be more cultural than anything else: Sentech is controlled by former regulatory, government and Telkom officials.
"We had a difference in vision," says Sentech CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane. She says Sentech has the marketing experience to launch consumer services. It is doing a "soft launch", starting with "two or three" third-party Internet service providers (ISPs) in Gauteng, followed by Durban and Cape Town. Sentech has struggled to secure "high sites" (hills and buildings) because of stringent environmental impact assessment requirements, she says.
The wireless broadband offering will be launched by end-November. As with a cellphone network, signals will be broadcast from base stations, located on high sites in metropolitan areas.
The service will be provided to ISPs - Tiscali World Online and Internet Solutions, initially - for resale, and will be cheaper than Telkom's ADSL. Also, unlike Telkom's offering, its use will not be bandwidth-capped.
ISPs see the changes as positive. "We need Sentech to provide alternative services, particularly in areas where Telkom has been unwilling or unable to provide services," says Internet Solutions new business executive Hillel Shrock.
But consumers and prospective partners are waiting to see if Sentech, which started out as the SABC's broadcast signal distribution arm, will deliver on its promises. Since being issued the badly drafted, controversial carrier-of-carrier and multimedia licences by government 17 months ago, it's been slow in launching new services, spending much of its time fighting regulatory and court battles to clarify its rights.
Also worrying is Sentech's financial position. For 2003, it reported a headline loss of R9,3m on revenue of R462m.
The problems will be overcome, promises Mokone-Matabane.
"We've injected entrepreneurial-minded people into the company and industry suppliers are working with us," she says.
Sentech recently launched a satellite-based, always-on, broadband service for rural areas, and is looking to partner Indian-based convergence firms.
Mokone-Matabane blames the delays in launching the wireless access service on a lack of licensing and regulatory clarity, resulting in Sentech having to fight off challenges from Telkom. The Independent Communications Authority's (Icasa) "enormous delays" in issuing Sentech with required frequencies also meant the company had to delay the purchase of new equipment, she says.
But the communications department is planning changes to the telecom act so Sentech will be recognised as a "public operator", which means it will be able to lease bandwidth from Telkom and the cellular networks at wholesale, rather than retail, rates.
Gazetted out of the blue last month, the telecom amendment bill of 2003 is seen as a political settlement for Sentech dropping its court case against Icasa, communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and Telkom a few months ago. The case was brought after Icasa redrafted the facilities leasing and interconnection guidelines, and backtracked on its intention to recognise Sentech as a public operator. In court documents, Sentech alleged that Icasa folded under government pressure ahead of Telkom's initial public offering (Technology & Communications July 4).
"We cannot compete if we are forced to access facilities at retail prices," says Mokone-Matabane. The telecom act's intentions have always been to introduce competition, she says. But she expects Telkom to challenge the bill. "Telkom has now been listed. It is doing well and does not need protection."
OFF TO A SHAKY START
By Marina Bidoli
Sentech plans to tackle Telkom head-on, but new developments aren't promising
In a sign of potential trouble for Sentech, multimedia group executive Angelo Roussos has quit the state-owned broadcasting signal distribution and telecom company, just weeks before it's due to launch its long-awaited wireless, broadband Internet service.
Roussos' departure signals a lack of faith in Sentech's ability to deliver a viable and sustainable alternative Internet-based service offering to Telkom's asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) product.
A medical doctor turned entrepreneur, who sold his satellite Internet business Infosat to Sentech, Roussos is tired of Sentech's bureaucratic culture and strategic direction.
"I am disappointed," he says. "The multimedia launch has been scaled back significantly."
He says he wanted a separate brand for the new offering but was denied control of marketing. The clash may be more cultural than anything else: Sentech is controlled by former regulatory, government and Telkom officials.
"We had a difference in vision," says Sentech CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane. She says Sentech has the marketing experience to launch consumer services. It is doing a "soft launch", starting with "two or three" third-party Internet service providers (ISPs) in Gauteng, followed by Durban and Cape Town. Sentech has struggled to secure "high sites" (hills and buildings) because of stringent environmental impact assessment requirements, she says.
The wireless broadband offering will be launched by end-November. As with a cellphone network, signals will be broadcast from base stations, located on high sites in metropolitan areas.
The service will be provided to ISPs - Tiscali World Online and Internet Solutions, initially - for resale, and will be cheaper than Telkom's ADSL. Also, unlike Telkom's offering, its use will not be bandwidth-capped.
ISPs see the changes as positive. "We need Sentech to provide alternative services, particularly in areas where Telkom has been unwilling or unable to provide services," says Internet Solutions new business executive Hillel Shrock.
But consumers and prospective partners are waiting to see if Sentech, which started out as the SABC's broadcast signal distribution arm, will deliver on its promises. Since being issued the badly drafted, controversial carrier-of-carrier and multimedia licences by government 17 months ago, it's been slow in launching new services, spending much of its time fighting regulatory and court battles to clarify its rights.
Also worrying is Sentech's financial position. For 2003, it reported a headline loss of R9,3m on revenue of R462m.
The problems will be overcome, promises Mokone-Matabane.
"We've injected entrepreneurial-minded people into the company and industry suppliers are working with us," she says.
Sentech recently launched a satellite-based, always-on, broadband service for rural areas, and is looking to partner Indian-based convergence firms.
Mokone-Matabane blames the delays in launching the wireless access service on a lack of licensing and regulatory clarity, resulting in Sentech having to fight off challenges from Telkom. The Independent Communications Authority's (Icasa) "enormous delays" in issuing Sentech with required frequencies also meant the company had to delay the purchase of new equipment, she says.
But the communications department is planning changes to the telecom act so Sentech will be recognised as a "public operator", which means it will be able to lease bandwidth from Telkom and the cellular networks at wholesale, rather than retail, rates.
Gazetted out of the blue last month, the telecom amendment bill of 2003 is seen as a political settlement for Sentech dropping its court case against Icasa, communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and Telkom a few months ago. The case was brought after Icasa redrafted the facilities leasing and interconnection guidelines, and backtracked on its intention to recognise Sentech as a public operator. In court documents, Sentech alleged that Icasa folded under government pressure ahead of Telkom's initial public offering (Technology & Communications July 4).
"We cannot compete if we are forced to access facilities at retail prices," says Mokone-Matabane. The telecom act's intentions have always been to introduce competition, she says. But she expects Telkom to challenge the bill. "Telkom has now been listed. It is doing well and does not need protection."
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] It's possible that keng was not aware of all that has been happening at Sentech in the past few months.
]) So... he/she should have merely asked in the posting whether this had been seen before, and whether it still had any relevancy. For keng - trust this helps...
