Telecoms clearly not a priority
THIS isn’t an urban legend. In a Florida restaurant about two weeks ago, a man started going into diabetic shock. A helpful policeman rushed to help but had a seizure — and fell on the pregnant manager.
I noticed because of the three ambulances’ flashing lights at the shopping centre as I arrived. It seems too incredible to be true.
But, it’s less unbelievable than what has been happening in politics, popular culture and telecoms here for the last few weeks. As I prepared to fly back to South Africa two Fridays ago, the day before Jacob Zuma was to be sworn in as our new president, the biggest news in the country was the Idols SMS debacle and who had actually won that banal reality show.
The debate is still raging over whose fault it was. Last week MTN’s MD Tom Lowry blamed Telkom for 53.11percent (and Eskom for 37percent) of their network problems, a day after appearing at the regulator Icasa — along with the other cellular operators — at a hearing about dropped calls and other networks issues.
Amazingly, there have been numerous scandals around such cellphone problems, but it seemingly took the Idols debacle to spur a public inquiry — and those waves of talk radio phone-in complaints.
The straight-talking Lowry comments were like watching Helen Zille throw the first punch. Telkom quickly responded, calling it “ironic and unacceptable that every time some of the mobile operators are made to account for their network availability and reliability, blame is conveniently apportioned to Telkom”.
It added “there were no extraordinary circumstances or network problems” in that period.
Indeed, there is nothing extraordinary about Telkom’s bad service — although the cellular networks are not entirely unblameworthy. M-Net’s service provider has since admitted that its data line was too small.
But that was only Thursday. By Friday Icasa had done an amazing about-face and rescinded its decision that Vodacom didn’t need its permission to sell an additional 15percent to Vodafone, throwing into jeopardy today’s planned R22.5-billion listing and costing the rand 3percent of its value on Friday.
Yesterday’s interdict by Icasa and Cosatu was unresolved at the time of going to press, but it’s a generally worrying blow to investor confidence and Icasa’s already laughable so-called independence. It shows dangerous new signs of political meddling, whether appropriate or not, because of the last-minute timing on Friday afternoon, after months of corporate preparation. It’s most troubling for the portents for much- needed telecoms liberalisation.
So, welcome to the telecoms industry Siphiwe Nyanda. He’s as unlikely an appointment as communications minister as his thoroughly inept predecessor, the late Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casiburri, was unfireable.
What South Africa needs is a communications minister with vision and vigour, a solid understanding of technology and the political clout to get this crucial, but smothered and abused, industry rolling in South Africa.
Years of legislative malingering and political neglect have left South Africa dangerously, and embarrassingly, behind the global curve.
I have nothing against Nyanda. It takes balls to be the first black general of what was mostly the old guard SA Defence Force.
But his puzzling appointment is widely seen as payback for loyalty to Zuma, and an acknowledgement that the department of communications is a second-tier ministry. Compare this with the staggering 7.2-billion President Barack Obama has earmarked for the two IT industry heavyweights he appointed as his new chief technology and information officers for the US .
Both have significant experience; while their portfolios are crucial to the running of government, building up American business and generally fostering innovation in what is now irrefutably an online age where broadband and cheap telecoms are utterly essential economic drivers.
If only we were all more concerned about all of these and not who won Idols.
The Times
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