Suid-Afrikaners is só gewoond aan monopolieë dat die meeste mense nie twee keer dink oor die feit dat ons betaal-TV ook deur monopolie (verfrissend, in die privaatsektor dié keer) oorheers word. Ons wonder ook nie veel daaroor dat ons geen kabel-TV in hierdie land het nie - „dis mos Afrika.” Min mense weet dat DSTV eintlik al die tyd geen lisensie het om in SA uit te saai nie - hulle het hier in die tyd van ons regimeverandering 'n lisensie in Botswana bekom, wat hulle die SA-owerhede oortuig het om te aanvaar vir die doeleindes van hulle bedryf in SA. In 2006 het OKOSA egter aansoeke aanvaar om lisensie vir kommersiële satelliet- en kabel-TV-dienste. OKOSA was so gretig dat hulle selfs die sluitingsdatum uitgestel het tot die einde van Augustus om die SAUK toe te laat om hul aansoek in te handig. Uiteindelik het 18 bedrywe aansoek gedoen om lisensies en vryemarkgesindes en verbruikers (soos die skrywer) het reeds begin uitsien na keuse in dié mark en laer pryse. Ongelukkig woon ons egter steeds in 'n tipe getransformeerde Boerassic Park en het die minister verlede week aangekondig (berig en kommentaar deur Anton Haber) dat die OKOSA-proses uitgestel moet word totdat die migrasie na digitale uitsending voltooi is. Die regering se teikendatum vir dié migrasie is 2008 maar 'n mens hoort in gedagte te hou dat nog slegs Nederland hierdie migrasie voltooi het en dat selfs Brittanje nie verwag om voor 2012 klaar te wees daarmee nie. SA se eweknie Brasilië verwag om in 2016 klaar te wees. Die leser sal dit sekerlik moeilik vind om nie met die outeur saam te stem dat daar iets in die drinkwater is nie en dat DSTV dit duidelik reggekry het (hul lisensie in SA gaan volgens berigte wel toegestaan word) om 'n de facto-monopolie in 'n de jure-een om te skakel.
Mag mense wat so rooi soos ek in die son brand nog Multichoice-aandele koop?
2007-03-29
2007-03-20
Alcatel goes EASSy
The Highway Africa news agency reports that Alcatel-Lucent has signed the contract to build the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy). EASSy will stretch along the east coast of Africa, from Mtunzini in Kwazulu-Natal to Port Sudan and then connect to major submarine cables running through the Red Sea. EASSy has been criticised (read Just say No to EASSy by RH Alden) for repeating the mistake made on the SAT3 connect up the west coast of Africa in creating monopolies in most countries on connectivity to the outside world. This is a very important point but it is at least somewhat encouraging that South Africa has included three operators in the consortium (newspaper article in Afrikaans) with a fourth to be added soon.
2007-03-05
Fault reporting (at) Telkom
This evening I had the dubious pleasure of having to report a fault on a relative's Telkom line and was initially pleased to see the link to "online fault reporting" on Telkom's website. I completed the form twice and each time got no more than the following notice.
Now, the request to report the fault is reasonable, but no correspondence address is given so I am reporting it here. Incidentally, an article today from MyADSL reports benchmarks for SA's ADSL pricing, comparing rates in this country to those in Morocco (also in Africa) and Australia (also remote from the centres of Western civilisation). It turns out that ADSL users in Morocco and Australia are paying nearly the same as UK users (between 1c and 1,5c per MB) whereas users in SA are paying around 28c (all SA cents) per MB. At the risk of sounding like Carrie Bradshaw: could it be that Telkom is the fault?
Now, the request to report the fault is reasonable, but no correspondence address is given so I am reporting it here. Incidentally, an article today from MyADSL reports benchmarks for SA's ADSL pricing, comparing rates in this country to those in Morocco (also in Africa) and Australia (also remote from the centres of Western civilisation). It turns out that ADSL users in Morocco and Australia are paying nearly the same as UK users (between 1c and 1,5c per MB) whereas users in SA are paying around 28c (all SA cents) per MB. At the risk of sounding like Carrie Bradshaw: could it be that Telkom is the fault?
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