ICT News

[Lydon]

Any and all South Africa-related IT news goes here!


http://www.joburg-archive.co.za/images/june/tower1.jpg

[Lydon]

MTN has an aggressive plan to improve the quality of its network


WITH MTN'S RAPID expansion overseas it isn't hard for its subscribers in South Africa to feel a bit like the neglected child. However, the R7,1bn it's set to spend over the next year or so in upgrading its infrastructure throughout SA should calm the most cynical criticisms.
Speaking to journalists, MTN SA MD Tim Lowry outlined an aggressive plan to improve the quality of its network and ensure customer services are improved. Industry pundits have seen SA as a saturated market but he says MTN is still seeing strong movement from the pre-paid market into the post-paid (contract) market. "We expect that market to continue to grow at a significant rate for the next two to three years and there's a lot to play for," Lowry says.
To cope with that growth - including 100% year-on-year expansion in the wireless data market - it's more than doubling its capital expenditure from the R3,5bn allocated last year to R7,1bn allocated for this year.
Part of that expenditure is going into a fibre ring in Gauteng that will reduce its reliance on Telkom for connections between its base stations and core network. Lowry says the decision to go that route was driven by the long lead times for connectivity from Telkom, plus the degradation of the service levels it had been receiving from the incumbent operator. "Some 50% to 60% of our outages are directly related to downtime on the part of Telkom."
It will also be laying 5 000km of fibre to link SA's various urban areas. That will probably be achieved in conjunction with one other operator in order to keep the costs of the exercise down, although Lowry was unwilling to reveal which company would be its likely partner.


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/4782.html

[Lydon]

South Africa is seeing a mass rollout of fibre

Telkom’s monopoly in the fixed line market has come to an end and many telecoms players are investing in their own fibre networks to compete against the incumbent.
The new Individual ECNS licenses equals the playing field in terms of rights to roll out a network, and a fibre backbone is a much needed asset to be able to compete with a well entrenched telecoms provider like Telkom.


International fibre projects
Various submarine fibre projects are in the pipeline which will compete directly with the Telkom controlled SAT3/SAFE system which currently has a monopoly in the international bandwidth market in South Africa.
The most likely system to land first is SEACOM which will link South Africa to India and Europe at a fraction and the current cost of bandwidth on SAT 3/SAFE.
EASSy is also progressing and has an estimated operational date of 2011, although some investors would like to see it land in South Africa in time for the 2010 World Cup.
And then there are some submarine fibre initiatives on the West Coast of Africa which include the government and Nepad led AWCC/Uhurunet system and a potential new system in which companies like MTN are involved.


National fibre networks
Apart from the international submarine cables, which have attracted a great deal of media attention, there are numerous terrestrial fibre optic projects across South Africa.
Residents in Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban will be used to seeing trenching going on in metropolitan areas, and Neotel is responsible for much of this activity.
The company is aggressively expanding its network – both on the fibre and wireless sides – in metropolitan areas. Neotel has an obligation to cover 50% of the population in metropolitan areas in 5 years and 80% of the total population of the country after 10 years.
Neotel already has a 2 000 km metropolitan fibre network to compliment its 8000 km national long distance network, and is actively increasing the reach of its inner-city network.
Neotel is currently rolling out fibre to the curb and said it is pulling fibre into every building in its fixed line coverage areas, independent of whether the current users of the building will use Neotel’s services or not.
Neotel said that the phased rollout will continue where enterprise customers will be served with fibre connectivity first, followed by smaller businesses and residential customers.
On the international fibre front Neotel already has access to both the SAT 3 and SAFE landing stations and its network is already carrying traffic from these cable systems. The company pointed out that their fibre infrastructure is already in place to carry international traffic from SEACOM when it lands in mid-2009.
Neotel is however not the only one to blame for dug-up roads and pavements. Telkom, MTN and Vodacom are all putting new fibre in the ground.
MTN started building their Gauteng fibre network in the beginning of August. The company plans to connect as many of its nodes in the Gauteng region as possible with its own fibre network.
Vodacom – through Vodacom Business - is well on its way to establish itself as a major player in the corporate telecoms market, and its growing fixed line network forms part of its plans. Two of Vodacom’s fibre rings in Johannesburg and Pretoria have gone live in mid-June and now carrying traffic.
Increased fixed competition and the potential loss in revenue means that Telkom is also actively rolling out fibre to the curb, both to serve its enterprise customers and to shorten the local loop. A shortened local loop is a necessary step to pride higher speed broadband services – typically ADSL 2+ - to consumers.


Not only the metros
According to Brian Nielson, research director at BMI-Technology, once true competition emerges along the international routes, and in the major metropolitan areas, the focus will increasingly shift to national long distance routes.
Currently Neotel provides the only real alternative to Telkom along these routes, but MTN and other players are already investing in their own national fibre infrastructure.
Neilson points out that fibre is also being laid to the pavement in some suburbs, and whole communities are also considering laying their own fibre cables.
“This trend is not restricted to gated communities; management committees in suburbs like Parkmore in Sandton are also actively investigating the option of running their own service, including the option of IPTV services from a third party pay TV player, along with closed circuit TV for security cameras,” said Neilson.
The future effect of all this fibre infrastructure is not difficult to guess: lower bandwidth prices and improved telecoms offerings – especially in the broadband space.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4819.html

[Lydon]

Construction on-schedule with 15,000 km fibre optic undersea cable


The construction of SEACOM’s 15,000 km fibre optic undersea cable, linking southern and east Africa, Europe and south Asia, is on schedule and set to go live as planned in June 2009.
Some 10,000 km of cable has been manufactured to date at locations in the USA and Japan and Tyco Communications, the project contractors, will begin shipping terrestrial equipment this month with the cable expected to be loaded on the first ship in September 2008.
Laying of shore end cables for each landing stations will also proceed from September. This process will comprise the cable portions at shallow depths ranging from 15 to 50m where large vessels are not able to operate.
From October 2008, the first of three Reliance Class vessels will start laying the actual cable. The final splicing, which involves connecting all cable sections together, will happen in April 2009, allowing enough time for testing of the system before the commercial launch in June 2009.
The final steps of the Environmental Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) process are well advanced and all small archeological, marine and ecological studies, which required scuba diving analysis, have been completed, as well as social consultations with the affected parties.
The cable, including repeaters necessary to amplify the signal, will be stored in large tanks onboard the ships.
The branching units necessary to divert the cable to the planned landing stations will be connected into the cable path on the ship just prior to deployment into the sea.
The cable will then be buried under the ocean bed with the help of a plow along the best possible route demarcated through the marine survey.
The connectivity from Egypt to Marseille, France, will be provided through Telecom Egypt’s TE-North fibre pairs that SEACOM has purchased on the system. TE-North is a new cable currently being laid across the Mediterranean Sea.
Brian Herlihy, SEACOM President, said: “We are very happy with the progress made over the past five months. Our manufacturing and deployment schedule is on target and we are confident that we will meet our delivery promises in what is today an incredibly tight market underpinned by sky-rocketing demand for new cables resulting in worldwide delivery delays.
“The recently announced executive appointments combined with the project management capabilities already existent within SEACOM position us as a fully fledged telecoms player. We are able to meet the African market’s urgent requirements for cheap and readily available bandwidth within less than a year.”
The cable will go into service long before the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks-off in South Africa and SEACOM has already been working with key broadcasters to meet their broadband requirements.
The team is also trying to expedite the construction in an attempt to assist with the broadcasting requirements of the FIFA Confederations Cup scheduled for June 2009.
SEACOM, which is privately funded and over three quarter African owned, will assist communication carriers in south and east Africa through the sale of wholesale international capacity to global networks via India and Europe.
The undersea fibre optic cable system will provide African retail carriers with equal and open access to inexpensive bandwidth, removing the international infrastructure bottleneck and supporting east and southern African economic growth.
SEACOM will be the first cable to provide broadband to countries in east Africa which, at the moment, rely entirely on expensive satellite connections.


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4828.html

[Lydon]

As Telkom's price increases take effect consumers are terminating their services


As Telkom's price increases take effect consumers are growing increasingly impatient and are terminating their services with the operator in droves.
In 2006 the company lost almost 20000 customers, as Telkom experienced a steady decline in landline connections.
Last year more than 60000 lines were disconnected by Telkom. The decline was not reflected in the company’s results for the year ending March 31 this year.
Telkom recorded a marginal operating revenue increase of 0.7%, with the help of mobile operator Vodacom and a number of other acquisitions.
The company has recently received approval from the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to increase its basic prices for telephone calls. In today’s climate of increased spending pressure on consumers, this move is destined to alienate subscribers even further.
Arthur Goldstuck, director of research firm World Wide Worx, said: “Apart from long distance calls, Telkom has never decreased its prices.
“The only reason (long distance prices were unchanged this year) was that it’s in competition with every VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), call back and cellular service out there.”
A few long distance call destinations have been decreased marginally. This was mainly in response to the rise in web based VoIP services such as Skype, where users can make calls at almost no charge.
Ina Wilken, South African National Consumers’ Union vice-chairperson, said: “Telkom needs to be careful. They need to nurture customers so that when real competition enters the market it will be able to hold on to them.”
While Telkom is focusing on acquisitions and landing corporate clients, it has alienated home subscribers.
Thami Bolani, chairman of the National Consumer Forum said: “In our understanding, there isn’t any competition in the sector, that’s why Telkom has been providing a poor service. These price increases are not good for small business development, especially when you compare them with prices overseas where they are very cheap,” Bolani said.
It will be at least a year before customers at home are able to make calls over a fixed cable Neotel network, but they can access the company’s “fixed-wireless” service which is up and running.


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4834.html

[Lydon]

ICASA is looking into Party Election Broadcasts and Political Advertisements


The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has conducted public workshops on the draft regulations in respect of party election broadcasts, political advertisements and equitable treatment of political parties by broadcasting licensees.
The purpose of the regulations is to determine and prescribe the framework and guidelines under which party political broadcasts will be conducted and carried by various broadcasting licensees during the national and provincial elections to be held in 2009.
Members of the public are still encouraged to submit written comments and submissions of the proposed draft regulations, the copy of which may be obtained from ICASA website (http://www.icasa.org.za (http://www.icasa.org.za/)).
The closing date for comments is 27 August 2008 before 16H00.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4842.html

[Lydon]

DIGITAL TV will be a success, and timelines will be met


That is the word from the communications department, which is in charge of making sure that the big switch from analogue to digital broadcasting happens by 2011.
“There are no signs to suggest that we will not be ready by 2011. One of our goals is to speed up uptake and use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) among South Africans,” department spokesman Joe Makhafola said.
“Digital television applications have an important role to reach especially rural regions effectively for interactive solutions. It is in the interests of both government and its citizens that we accelerate uptake and use of ICTs,” he said.
From November, broadcasters will start transmitting a digital signal, on a trial basis, in addition to the analogue signal which most households receive.
Set-top boxes, which will allow households with analogue TVs to receive a digital signal, need to be developed and rolled out by November 1 2011, when the analogue signal will be switched off.
Media commentators have expressed concern that the three years allowed by the government will not be long enough for all 7-million households to receive the boxes.
Of these households, about 5-million will need a government subsidy, which would cover up to 70% of the cost of a R700 box. Many of these households are in deep rural areas, worsening the logistical difficulty.
Makhafola defended the digital migration timelines, saying that the government had committed itself to “business unusual” in service delivery “so that the lives of our people should change for the better, sooner rather than later”.
The domestic electronics industry will have to increase capital investment to meet the expected demand, particularly for the set-top boxes.
Makhafola said the government would develop a strategy for the electronics industry involving both present and new players, which would create training and employment.
Digital TV offers better picture quality and more channels, but it also offers the possibility of interactive TV, which the government is particularly excited about.
This means the set-top box will be able to send information from the viewer back to the broadcaster, as well as receiving and downloading new software and content.
“This feature enables the full and interactive provision of e-government services such as accessing, filling in and sending back government forms without the viewer leaving home or the place where the TV set is located,” Makhafola said.
Plans to introduce e-government services through the set-top boxes are unique to SA.
Security features will prevent pirated boxes from being able to access domestic TV signals, he said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4843.html

[Pule]

Great thread Lydon.

[Pule]

As Telkom's price increases take effect consumers are terminating their services


As Telkom's price increases take effect consumers are growing increasingly impatient and are terminating their services with the operator in droves.
In 2006 the company lost almost 20000 customers, as Telkom experienced a steady decline in landline connections.
Last year more than 60000 lines were disconnected by Telkom. The decline was not reflected in the company’s results for the year ending March 31 this year.
Telkom recorded a marginal operating revenue increase of 0.7%, with the help of mobile operator Vodacom and a number of other acquisitions.
The company has recently received approval from the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to increase its basic prices for telephone calls. In today’s climate of increased spending pressure on consumers, this move is destined to alienate subscribers even further.
Arthur Goldstuck, director of research firm World Wide Worx, said: “Apart from long distance calls, Telkom has never decreased its prices.
“The only reason (long distance prices were unchanged this year) was that it’s in competition with every VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), call back and cellular service out there.”
A few long distance call destinations have been decreased marginally. This was mainly in response to the rise in web based VoIP services such as Skype, where users can make calls at almost no charge.
Ina Wilken, South African National Consumers’ Union vice-chairperson, said: “Telkom needs to be careful. They need to nurture customers so that when real competition enters the market it will be able to hold on to them.”
While Telkom is focusing on acquisitions and landing corporate clients, it has alienated home subscribers.
Thami Bolani, chairman of the National Consumer Forum said: “In our understanding, there isn’t any competition in the sector, that’s why Telkom has been providing a poor service. These price increases are not good for small business development, especially when you compare them with prices overseas where they are very cheap,” Bolani said.
It will be at least a year before customers at home are able to make calls over a fixed cable Neotel network, but they can access the company’s “fixed-wireless” service which is up and running.


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4834.html

I'm of them and I hope that Neotel procides us with better deals so that we can ditch Telkom. The sad thing is that they affecting job creation in the Call Centre industry.

[Lydon]

I'm of them and I hope that Neotel procides us with better deals so that we can ditch Telkom. The sad thing is that they affecting job creation in the Call Centre industry.

The unfortunate thing is that Neotel are gearing towards the wireless market. Their current offering is a CDMA service similar to 3G available from the various cellphone networks.

It seems we're going to have to wait some time still before Neotel provide us with an ADSL product of their own. Let's hope that Vodacom/MTN decide to offer consumer services via their fibre rings in the near future.

Across the board data prices are expected to halve within the next year. I personally don't see it happening by such a margin but let's hope I'm proven wrong!

P.S. Thanks for the compliment lol.

[alaink]

Yeah, I might agree, but I think that by going the wireless route, the SNO will be able to compete on the same level as the oh-so incumbant Telkom.

Lol I remember Motorola being handed the reigns to help them achieve this :P

[Lydon]

The problem with wireless is that it's geared towards the casual market. Gamers, for example, can't make much use of it due to the high latency that comes with it. Weather also affects the connection as well as signal strength etc.

All-in-all going the wireless route is of course to be expected at first. It is a good way to get to offer services to many people in a short space of time.

[alaink]

Oh of course, wireless not being TCP-esque at all, but the poor brutes have to get a foothold first! Yay and I hope so, monopoly for Telkom = FAIL.

[Lydon]

Could Zain Mobile be eyeing Telkom?



Zain Mobile is coming. The question is, will they partner with Telkom?
As you watch the coverage of the Bejing Olympics you may be wondering about Zain Mobile as their logo burns itself into the back of your mind.
Zain Mobile is a Kuwati-based mobile operator that expanded into Africa in mid-2005 by purchasing African mobile leader Celtel International for $3,36-billion (R26,2-billion) and is in the process of re-branding its operations in Africa.
Zain operates in 22 countries across Middle East and Africa with a subscriber base of 45,7-million customers, with operations in Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
It’s biggest rival is the MTN Group, which operates in 21 countries across the Middle East and Africa with a subscriber base of more than 40-million.
MTN operates in Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivore, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Iran, Afghanistan, Benin, Cyrus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Liberia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
While Zain is remaining tight-lipped about how it would enter the South Africa market and which company they would partner with, its executive management had made no secret of the fact that they are interested.
Celtel chief executive Chris Gabriel told Reuters in June that it would be very interested in getting into the South African market to take on the Vodacom and MTN groups in their own backyard.
Gabriel said reports that South Africa would licence a fourth mobile operator had piqued their interest.
He was referring to comments made in May by Parliament’s communications portfolio committee chair, Khotso Khumalo, saying the government would look to licence a fourth mobile operator and a third fixed-line operator in 2009.
However, anybody who paid attention to how the department of communication had severely delayed the licensing process of the second network operator, Neotel, would be wary of the time this could take to implement. But for Zain there is another option.
The two things Zain would require in South Africa to begin operations is a licence and access to the crucial spectrum needed to run a mobile network.
Luckily for the company, Telkom has both and is currently in negotiations to offload its 50% stake in mobile partner Vodacom.
Telkom and the United Kingdom-based Vodafone, which owns the other 50% of Vodacom, have been at each other’s throats for years over differences in opinion about how Vodacom expands into Africa.
The result has been a fractious relationship between Telkom and Vodacom, which has come to a head in the current negotiations.
Telkom CEO Reuben September told the Mail & Guardian in June this year that Telkom would be rolling out its own mobile offering once it had offloaded its share in Vodacom.
September said Telkom had recently gained access to the crucial spectrum required, the 1800MHz to 2100MHz band, which would allow it to roll out a fixed wireless network for mobile.
In fact, Telkom has been entitled to this crucial spectrum since 2001 – as a result of the Telecommunications Amendment Act of that year – and could have requested that Icasa issue the licence at any time since then.
September said Telkom would work with partners in rolling out its mobile offering. “I can tell you there will be partners available,” he said.
So short of jumping into bed with Cell C, what options does Telkom have? Telkom has the licence and the spectrum that Zain needs to get going in South Africa, and Zain has the mobile expertise and the footprint in Africa that Telkom is looking for – it seems like a marriage made in heaven.
Telkom’s executives went to great lengths at their recent results announcement to express the success of their Nigerian business, Multilinks.
The success of Multilinks in Nigeria points the way forward for Telkom and, with an established African mobile partner like Zain, it could take the dual fixed-line and mobile strategy to the rest of the continent.
Meanwhile, Telkom has contracted Chinese firm Huawei to build its fixed wireless and mobile data network in South Africa, which it expects to be connecting pilot customers to in September.
However, regarding a potential partnership with Zain, Telkom chief of strategy Naas Fourie said: “While Telkom will continuously explore all avenues at all times in its endeavour to enhance shareholder value, it does not deem it prudent to disclose the entities with which it has entered into discussions.”
Zain spokesperson Antoine Aboukhalil told the M&G that any rumours about Zain launching in South Africa in the coming months were “pure speculation at this stage”. “Zain is interested in operating in South Africa if an additional mobile licence is offered by the South African authorities and subject to us attaining such a licence,” he said.
Regarding the possible partnership with Telkom, Aboukhalil said there was no foundation “just yet” to draw any conclusions.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4861.html

[alaink]

Great stuff Lydon. :)

Now, I was thinking the other day about how much bandwidth and unused airtime gets thrown away every month. I for one have 5 months to use my free minutes, until such time they get 'disposed of' - sigh. And they aren't even free minutes, so lets call them "Free" minutes since I actually pay for them. Moreso - I opted for per second! :D :D

Not only that, I know that Vodacom offers SMS bundles, so you can buy say 200 a month for R50 for example. They don't get carried over to the next month, so you would have to use them all to get "your money's worth".

Airtime tips:

1. Opt for per second billing. Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx and author of How to buy a cellphone in South Africa, estimates that around 40 percent of airtime is forfeited because calls are charged per full minute even if you have only used a portion of that minute. From personal experience my cellphone bill dropped by R200 when I switched to per second billing.

2. Choose your bundle carefully. Bundled options can save you money. For example, Telkom’s Closer plan reduced my phone bill by R300 a month. But you need to ensure that you select the right plan for your usage so that you are not giving away services you have paid for. Study your bill over a few months to calculate how much you spend on average. If you want to change contracts, give your provider three months notice before the contract expires to avoid any penalty fees.

3. Airtime that rolls over. MTN’s MyChoice packages have unlimited carry-over. In other words the airtime you have paid for in the package does not expire. These contracts are based on value rather than minutes so you can use your pre-paid time for SMS, data and ringtone downloads. They also offer a MyChoice top-up package which allows you to control your monthly expenses by requiring you to top up with airtime once your contract amount has been used.

4. Watch your accumulated airtime. Dot Field, chief communications officer for Vodacom, says it allows a six month roll-over of unused airtime. She recommends that if in month four or five you realize that you are accumulating too much airtime, you can downgrade your package. There may be a cost involved to cover the initial cost of the phone but, over the longer term it will save you money.

5. Select the package, not the phone. Field says many customers choose their contracts based on the phone offered rather than monthly usage. This might result in customers not using all the airtime they have paid for. Field says you should select the right package and rather pay in the extra money for the phone of your choice.

6. Overcome inertia. Rather than complaining about your bill, spend an hour or two making sure you are on the right package. It will save you a lot of money in the long run. You can go to the local store of your network provider or give them a call to discuss the best plan for your needs.

Internet tips:

1. Pre-paid data: If you are already on an ADSL line you can opt for pre-paid data from ISP WebAfrica. It sells 1G of data for R70, which carries over to the next month. It also provides hybrid products where you receive 1G of data for R199 a month, which includes line rental. You can then top up with pre-paid data. Unlike the cellphone network offerings you are warned when you’ve used up 80 percent and you actively have to top up, allowing you to control your internet costs. This could be critical for a small business where, for example, a virus attacks the email software, sending out random emails and using up bandwidth.

2. Contracts with data rollover: Internet service provider iBurst allows purchased data to roll over into the following month. But this applies only to its wireless and ADSL options. Bandwidth can be topped up at the same rate as the contract price.

3. Don’t get tied to your ISP. Use Gmail as your domain for your emails so you don’t get locked into your service provider account. This allows you to move more easily between providers and take advantage of better offers.

----

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4863.html

[romanSA]

Durban rolls out broadband network

Suren Naidoo 20 August 2008 at 06h45

Durban's goal of becoming the first truly smart city in South Africa and on the African continent has reached a milestone with the city revealing on Tuesday that its much-vaunted optic fibre broadband network is now fully operational and is set to be opened up to business and residents.

Jacquie Subban, the head of geographic information and policy at the eThekwini Municipality, said the city had appointed technology giant Dimension Data as the service provider to manage the network on a three-year contact.

"We have fully upgraded the city's extensive optic fibre network to carrier class, or next-generation status. This means that we will be the first municipality in South Africa to reach this milestone, providing business and citizens with affordable Internet connectivity and low-cost local phone calls.


"I can now safely say we will have opened the network to businesses and educational institutions before the end of the 2008 financial year," she said.

Subban said the city would now start wholesaling spare capacity on the network, which had a huge surplus at present.

A roll-out plan is set to be announced at the municipality-initiated SmartCity Conference & Expo to be held at Durban's International Convention Centre from October 1-2.

In terms of the present communication legislation, municipalities are allowed to wholesale up to 25 percent of their spare capacity to businesses, but not to residents. The inhibiting legislation has often come under fire from municipalities and other sectors. However, more changes to the Electronic Communications Act may be on the cards, with one amendment possibly allowing municipalities to open up their networks to residents.

The eThekwini Municipality says it wants the network to ultimately span all businesses and residents in the greater metropolitan area. This is in line with creating a better connected city - a smart city.

Subban - who has been one of the key people driving the initiative - said: "Similar smart city concepts are already being powerfully driven by governments in places like Malaysia and Singapore. This is the way to go for cities, otherwise they risk going nowhere fast or being left behind internationally."

Mayor Obed Mlaba said Durban's long journey to becoming a smart city was closer to becoming a reality after first being conceptualised about eight years ago.

"I have often heard and been told of smart cities in South Africa, but I only know of one, Durban. While other cities in the country have talked a lot about similar projects, Durban has quietly carried on with creating the infrastructure and making it the reality that it is today," he said.

SmartXchange chief executive officer Robynne Erwin said the fact that Durban was the first city in South Africa to have a next-generation carrier network in place, and which was about to go live, was proof that the city's information and communication technology cluster was alive and well.

"In 2006, SmartXchange, the vehicle that is driving the vision of Durban becoming the ICT (information communication technology) hub of Africa, formed the SmartCity Forum. This industry forum has dedicated time and energy to making the city's dream of affordable broadband a reality," she said.

http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iArticleId=4568299

[Durbsboi]

thanks for that Article Lydon, was wondering what the f*ck Zain was, thought it was somethign to do with Telecoms or IT

[p2bsa]

Durban rolls out broadband network

Suren Naidoo 20 August 2008 at 06h45

Durban's goal of becoming the first truly smart city in South Africa and on the African continent has reached a milestone with the city revealing on Tuesday that its much-vaunted optic fibre broadband network is now fully operational and is set to be opened up to business and residents.

Jacquie Subban, the head of geographic information and policy at the eThekwini Municipality, said the city had appointed technology giant Dimension Data as the service provider to manage the network on a three-year contact.

"We have fully upgraded the city's extensive optic fibre network to carrier class, or next-generation status. This means that we will be the first municipality in South Africa to reach this milestone, providing business and citizens with affordable Internet connectivity and low-cost local phone calls.

....
http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iArticleId=4568299

You mean: "Durban to be SA's first smart city" (sound better doesn't it)
...
more links:
http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4567546 ;
http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20080820060918136C114456;
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=vn20080820060918136C114456

& more coverage:

Cheap broadband promise
Staff Writer, MyBroadband
20 August, 2008 02:39:00

Durban says it is ready to provide its residents with affordable broadband
The transformation of the eThekwini Municipality’s fibre-optic network has been completed and is now a next-generation network meaning that the broadband network has reached a stage where it can be shared with businesses, schools, hospitals and tertiary institutions and residents at vastly reduced costs.

According to the Durban Municipality it is the only city in Africa to have reached this milestone and be in a position to provide users with affordable connectivity and low cost local phone calls.

This heartening news was conveyed to members of the press, the SmartCity forum and dignitaries from the eThekwini Municipality at a conference held on Thursday August 20 at SmartXchange.

Jacquie Subban, Head of Geographic Information and Policy at the municipality, said that ultimately the network will span all businesses and residents in the greater municipal area at huge cost savings at vastly improved speeds.

Ms Subban confirmed that the broadband network is now fully operational and the City has appointed Dimension Data as the service provider to manage the network.

“The City will now start wholesaling spare capacity - of which there is a huge surplus – and a rollout plan including costs and timing schedules will be announced at the SmartCity Conference and Exhibition to held at the Albert Luthuli ICC, Durban on October 1 and 2.

The announcement means that Durban is the first city in South Africa to have in place a truly functional “Next Generation” or “Carrier Class” network.

Subban said that whilst other cities in the country have talked copiously about similar projects that have received masses of press coverage, Durban has quietly carried on with creating the infrastructure and making it the reality that it is today.

SOURCE: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Broadband/4899.html

[p2bsa]

^^ MORE:

eThekwini takes municipal broadband lead
BY SAMANTHA PERRY , ITWEB FEATURES EDITOR
[ Johannesburg, 20 August 2008 ] - Having completed the roll-out of its next-generation network in June, eThekwini Municipality will now start selling excess capacity to local Internet service providers at wholesale rates.

Jacquie Subban, head of geographic information and policy, says the municipality is busy compiling its services roll-out plan, which it will announce at the second annual SmartCity conference, scheduled to be held on 1 and 2 October, in Durban.

The city has appointed Dimension Data to manage and maintain the network for the next three years. The company will also handle all commercial dealings in terms of signing up customers, although Subban says: “The legality will be with the city, so all final decisions and contracts will be with the municipality.”

The city is getting its first customer on board and hopes to have it connected between October and December.

It is also going to start piloting wireless for last mile access. The plan is that as clients (ISPs) come on board, schools and citizens in the vicinity of the ISP can access the network via that distribution point.

“The pilot will provide us with all of the information we need to decide if wireless is a viable last mile access technology. If it is successful, we will go to tender for a provider to roll-out. The pilot will also help us with 2010 planning,” she says.

The SmartXchange technology innovation node and business incubation centre has been prioritised for connectivity to the city's high-speed backbone, as has the University of KZN.

Says Subban: “We're in discussions about either providing connectivity to the university's medical centre, or alternatively to connect it to the South African National Research and Education Network. One of these will be achieved by December.”

eThekwini set out a strategy in 2005/6 to make the City of Durban a smart city. As part of this, it embarked on an initiative to look at expanding its network and examine ways and means of developing it into more than connectivity for city offices.

The fibre network will ultimately span the entire municipal area, she says. At present, there is fibre stretching out to Umhlanga, Tongaat, Waterfall, Amazimtoti, KwaMashu, Chatsworth and Umlazi, as well as the southern industrial core.

eThekwini, in a press statement announcing its plans, says it will be “the first municipality in SA to reach this milestone [of] providing citizens with affordable connectivity and low-cost local phone calls. This means that, at a massively reduced fee compared to Telkom, all companies in the hub will have access to the network – Internet and e-mail – and make virtually free calls to other phones linked in the network. Ultimately, the network will span all businesses and residents in the greater municipal area. [Providing] a huge cost saving at vastly improved speeds.”

SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/2008/0808201038.asp?O=FPTOP&S=Broadband&A=BRO

[Lydon]

Everyone is basically giving Telkom the finger. Municipal fibre rings are under construction in Cape Town and Joburg too, apart from the fibre the cellular operators and neotel are laying. Good times.

[p2bsa]

Everyone is basically giving Telkom the finger. Municipal fibre rings are under construction in Cape Town and Joburg too, apart from the fibre the cellular operators and neotel are laying. Good times.

Good times ahead indeed, but the fact is that Durban leads Africa in terms of a municipal fibre optic infrastructure....

I don't know about Joburg, but Cape Town only last year approved a budget of some R430 million to build its fibre optic core infracstucture... about 300km of fibre

Durban already has this and is extending each month...

[Lydon]

Good times ahead indeed, but the fact is that Durban leads Africa in terms of a municipal fibre optic infrastructure....

I don't know about Joburg, but Cape Town only last year approved a budget of some R430 million to build its fibre optic core infracstucture... about 300km of fibre

Durban already has this and is extending each month...

Yes I know. Pretoria actually already has municipal fibre too.

[Lydon]

The controversial Broadcasting Amendment Bill was approved in the National Assembly on Tuesday



The controversial Broadcasting Amendment Bill was approved in the National Assembly on Tuesday amid promises by the opposition to petition President Thabo Mbeki on the matter.
The bill provides, among other things, for the Assembly to play a major role in removing SABC board members from office.
Dene Smuts of the Democratic Alliance said if the bill was truly to deal with bona fide cases where the removal of a board member for misconduct or incompetence was necessary, an amendment she had proposed would have been enough.
This brought the removal provision in line with appointment, which was drawn from the constitutional arrangements for Chapter Nine Institutions, because the public broadcaster enjoyed Section 16 media freedom and, like the commissions, had to be independent from government.
"However, that removal provision now sits alongside a set of clauses that propose the dissolution of the entire board and the installation of a small hand-picked interim board without any transparent process," Smuts said.
"That is offensive, intimidatory, and destructive of the security of tenure without which this body cannot protect Section 16 editorial independence and the right of the public to be informed.
"It also puts on public display the intentions of the ruling portion of the ruling party.
"Obviously the thinking is that the Polokwane faction in parliament will decide and the new chairperson of that party will force the President to execute that decision.
"But that is the most primitive form of power politics. It cannot be the law because it is unconstitutional."
The legal concept of the separation of powers was another constitutional concept ignored by the bill, and it was especially on that concept that the DA would petition Mbeki not to sign it into law, Smuts said.
Suzanne Vos of the Inkatha Freedom Party said the bill would prove to be an enabling factor for direct political interference into the governance of the SABC and an assault on the board's independence.
"The proposition that an entire board of the SABC can be removed, not by 'due enquiry', but merely after a 'finding' of a committee of the National Assembly is, quite simply, outrageous.
"It is a patently obvious intra party-political manoeuvre and in so doing this Honourable House is being used as a tool for the political machinations of the new post-Polokwane ruling clique of the ANC.
"We cannot and will not support bad law. This bill is bad law."
The Independent Democrats, African Christian Democratic Party, and Freedom Front Plus also opposed the bill.
However, the ANC's Eric Kholwane dismissed these arguments and that it meant "the end of the current SABC board".
Regarding the DA petitioning Mbeki, Kholwane said, "if that happened, we'll be ready to deal with whatever issues".
The bill was approved after a division, and now goes to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4891.html

[Lydon]

Sigh...Motorola really have gone downhill since the breakthrough which was the original V3. No wonder they're thinking of selling off their mobile phone division if their new phone (which they're hoping will save the brand) doesn't do what they're hoping it to do. They should learn to make high quality products and not cheap rubbish made of coated plastic. While they're at it they can get rid of that idiotic operating system of theirs too.


Top Brands survey sheds light on which phones are hot



The recent Business Times Top Brands survey shed some light on which cellular phone brands are the most recognised and respected.
The survey focused on consumers and business leaders and the results of various areas of questioning were expressed as a Brand Relationship Score.
According to the Business Times Top Brands survey team the Brand Relationship Score provides a holistic overview of the brand’s health.
Nokia was voted the top cellphone brand with a brand relationship score of 64.4%. Nokia was also the seventh most popular overall brand in South Africa.
Samsung was the second most popular cellphone brand in the 2008 survey, overtaking Motorola who lost dropped one place to third from the 2007 ranking.
LG, Sony Ericsson, Siemens, Alcatel, Philips, Panasonic and Sagem completed filled out the top 10.
It is interesting to note that the soon-to-be-launched Apple iPhone did not appear in the survey – but it is a brand that can be expected to do well in future surveys.


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/4877.html

[Lydon]

Old equipment cannot take the strain, says electricity analyst



POWER cuts in several areas of Johannesburg yesterday morning were not due to load shedding, but were caused by too great a strain on distribution equipment as a result of Eskom’s constant blackouts that occurred earlier this year.
A malfunction at City Power’s Kelvin substation caused outages in several areas including Highlands North, Halfway Gardens, Houghton, Dunkeld, Rosebank, Bez Valley, Killarney, Illovo, Atholl and Glenhazel.
An industry analyst said that the main issue was that a large portion of the electricity distribution infrastructure had been damaged by the load shedding earlier this year.
“A lot of the equipment such as switching gear, transformers and gauges were not designed to be switched off too frequently. A lot of the equipment is also old and hasn’t been replaced since it was first installed in the 1950s,” the analyst said
A single transformer cost between R20-million and R30-million, and many of the municipalities are either underfunded or are merely reluctant to embark on new investments.
A 15-year-old motion by the government to hand over the distribution of electricity to regional electricity distributors (REDs) has not gone down well with local governments and they have apparently done everything in their power to block the motion.
The government has decided to put a hold on establishing six REDs after a messy situation in Cape Town.
MPs have accused the minerals and energy department of sneaking the controversial REDs scheme in without consultation.
“Local governments would lose a huge source of revenue if REDs were implemented. They won’t invest in equipment if there is a chance of it being taken over, so we sit with cables that could explode as in Bedfordview, leaving people without power for days,” the analyst said.
He predicted more power cuts this year because old, faulty equipment is certain to fail under strain.
Eskom spokesman Nto Rikotso said: “We supply the city with bulk power. The problem is confined to City Power’s supply to its customers.”


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/4898.html

[alaink]

A "sigh" moment indeed. So the Broadcasting Amendment Bill was actually approved??? Oh well... :ohno:

[alaink]

Well I don't know if you remember the Nokia 3310 (Who doesnt???) There was a stage when every second person had that phone. Good times - it's a reliable phone that one. Hehe

[Lydon]

Well I don't know if you remember the Nokia 3310 (Who doesnt???) There was a stage when every second person had that phone. Good times - it's a reliable phone that one. Hehe

Thankfully Nokia have managed to continually produce phones worth buying, unlike Motorola :bash:

[alaink]

Agreed. I had a motorola E398 - BEST PHONE EVER! But now, wtf? sigh

[Lydon]

The good old E398...how times have changed. Now we've got PEBBLES and ROKs.

[alaink]

The good old E398...how times have changed. Now we've got PEBBLES and ROKs.

Sigh. There was also the V360 - probably the last good one.

[Lydon]

Sigh. There was also the V360 - probably the last good one.

This is getting so off-topic lol, so my last phone-related post...but I don't like the V360. The pain comes off of the buttons like mad.

[Lydon]

2010 Soccer World Cup will speed up the provision of massive bandwidth in South Africa


HOSTING the 2010 Soccer World Cup will speed up the provision of massive bandwidth in South Africa and should bring down the price of telecoms services, an industry analyst predicted yesterday.
Will Hahn, a principal analyst at international IT consultancy Gartner, Inc, told a symposium in Cape Town that the Fifa requirement for high definition television had major implications for South Africa’s telecoms infrastructure.

“HDTV is the most bandwidth hungry, the most powerful application of television that you can have today,” Hahn said. South Africans themselves were unlikely to be able to watch 2010 on HDTV, “but the broadcast itself will be HDTV capable and that has implications for the broadcasting infrastructure.”

“It’s got to be brought up to speed, so certainly it will accelerate the day when you will be able to see things in HDTV.” Hahn said the big screens at fan parks would be an ideal opportunity to introduce South Africans to HDTV. “It really is an extraordinary medium.”
Other benefits of generous bandwidth included video casts to cellphones and television delivered via the Internet.

“Casual use of enormous amounts of bandwidth — which unfortunately you guys can’t contemplate yet — is part of what you want to change in South Africa,” Hahn said. “Imagine, you pay an Internet access bill once, it’s a flat rate, and you do whatever you damn well please.
“You watch TV off the computer. I’m confident that you will, I can’t tell you exactly when.”

Another Gartner analyst, Mark Raskino, told local IT players that South Africa was missing out on major economic benefits by failing to develop itself as an IT hub on the Indian model. He urged South Africa not to respond to the shortage of IT skills by following the UK example of outsourcing. “[You] have education here, so there’s massive opportunity to become an IT service centre, an IT economy,” Raskino said. “At the moment you are leaving opportunity on the shelf.” He told delegates they should take the initiative themselves.
“You don’t set up an IT industry by waiting for the government to do it.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/4906.html

[Lydon]

Who would qualify to be awarded WiMax spectrum?



ALTHOUGH MANY HAVE ARGUED that enforcing the requirement of a 51% black economic empowerment ownership stake on potential new wireless players is overly onerous, who would qualify to be awarded WiMax spectrum should regulator Icasa not change its tune? That depends on which so-called alternate telcos are eventually awarded individual electronic communications network service (i-ECNS) licences - the first step towards being able to apply for spectrum.



Africa Analysis telecoms analyst Dobek Pater says he didn't expect spectrum licence applications or adjudications to take place until probably second quarter 2009. As to who would qualify to apply for spectrum will become clearer once the outcome of the Altech Autopage High Court application against Icasa and Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri is known. Altech asserts the minister gave value-added network service licensees such as itself the right to self-provide their networks. Judgment is expected soon.



If Altech fails in its application and Icasa reverts back to its competitive process, then there are a handful of operators that seem highly likely recipients of i-ECNS licences (and hence can apply for spectrum) given their size and existing market position. Those could include Vox Telecom, Dimension Data's Internet Solutions, Naspers's soon-to-be-sold MWeb, Verizon Business (which MTN is buying) and possibly Altech Autopage. However, the only one that comes close to meeting Icasa's 51% empowerment requirement is Vox.



All the value-added network service (Vans) licensees had been required by Icasa to have 30% empowerment in order to receive that particular licence. Many aren't charmed by the fact that the goalposts have now been shifted.
Vox chairman Tony van Marken says confidently it intends reaching the 51% empowerment ownership mark before year-end. Its empowerment shareholding increased to 41,87% earlier this year after its shareholders took additional shares to help fund the Storm acquisition. At end-February the Lereko Metier Capital Growth Fund had 23,6%, Mvelaphanda 12,42%, Regiments Capital held 4,24% and Thembeka Capital another 1,61%.



However, Van Marken says its empowerment shareholding has since increased to 44%. He'll elaborate on its plans to further increase that as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Internet Solutions can't yet say what it will do if Icasa sticks to its guns on 51% empowerment. Head of regulatory Siyabonga Madyibi says it's still lobbying Icasa to maintain the current 30% requirement, which Internet Solutions already meets by virtue of the empowerment shareholding in parent company Dimension Data SA.
Andile Ngcaba leads a consortium that owns 25% of Didata SA, while other empowerment shareholders at the plc level account for the rest, says Madyibi. He adds that obtaining WiMax spectrum is crucial to Internet Solutions' future business plans. Although it could gain access to the spectrum in partnership with other successful applicants, or by buying equity in those other companies, that wouldn't be first prize.



Madyibi says Internet Solutions has buy-in from Didata that it will commit capital to its WiMax rollout. "The challenge is to get it without losing control of the company."
Of the incumbent players, both Vodacom and MTN want access to WiMax spectrum but have so far been denied it. Vodacom took a stake in Wireless Business Solutions (i-Burst) and works in partnership with it, while MTN launched a bid for Verizon Business. That deal is still subject to Competition Commission approval.
MTN must clearly be hoping Verizon is a serious contender for the spectrum. However, it buying 100% of the company would see 30% empowerment shareholders J&J Group's Jay & Jayendra on their way out, decreasing its chances as a contender for spectrum in Icasa's eyes. MTN's group empowerment shareholding isn't sufficient on its own.



MWeb is currently owned by media giant Naspers, but the latter announced on 2 June it was initiating an auction process of that business. Naspers says the reason is that it doesn't own any other Internet service provider businesses and MWeb's plans to invest in wireless broadband diverged from that of the broader group.
If MWeb wants to be a serious contender for WiMax spectrum, then the buyer should seemingly be an already empowered company. Any bidders would have to take a view on the likelihood of its getting an i-ECNS licence and subsequently also WiMax spectrum, which would affect the price they'd be prepared to pay for the asset.
Altech Autopage currently doesn't have an empowerment shareholding, although group CEO Craig Venter said at its recent AGM it was working towards complying with the 30% promised to Icasa as part of receiving its Vans licence.
However, if it succeeds in getting an i-ECNS licence and wants to apply for spectrum, it would have to do more than that. Another alternative Venter also mentioned previously could be to form a consortium to roll out a WiMax network.
Another industry analyst says apart from the usual suspects there were a host of other, less well-known players just waiting in the wings to get their hands on WiMax spectrum. Some - which must already be well empowered - were pleased with Icasa's 51% empowerment requirement.



Pater said Irene Charnley's Smile Tele-communications and UniNet, in which former Telkom CEO Papi Molotsane's company Synglo bought a 65% stake, would probably also be interested in obtaining WiMax spectrum. There were also some smaller Wi-Fi players in the Western Cape region but it was unclear whether they'd want to diversify into setting up bigger networks. But again, that would depend on their success at being awarded i-ECNS licences.



Pater says the environment would unfortunately lend itself to fronting and underhanded deal making, where a smaller 51%-owned empowerment entity applied for and succeeded in obtaining a licence and then partnered with a larger player to build a network and deliver services.


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Wireless/4903.html

[Lydon]

Cell C's half-year results point to strong growth



Cell C's announcement of its half-year results (January to June 2008) confirms its continued strong growth, which was evidenced in its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2007.


Total revenue has increased by R590 million, a rise of 17%. Cell C has also recorded a strong improvement in Operating profit of 36%, as compared to half year results of 2007 and Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) of R517 million was achieved.


"Our management, staff and particularly our customers have responded exceptionally well to our concerted efforts to grow profitably, as part of our turn-around strategy,” comments CEO Jeffrey Hedberg.



“The team’s hard work and commitment to our customers are clearly paying dividends, despite the current economic climate."
According to Hedberg, there will continue to be a strong focus on improving and streamlining Cell C’s operations and ensuring that the organisation is leaner, quicker on its feet and more responsive to changing market requirements.
“Our shareholders continue to show strong support as the turnaround continues to deliver,” said Hedberg.


Cell C’s active subscribers surged by 58% since June 2007 to 5.4 million, largely due to popular products such as Woza Weekend and the Hola 7 starter pack, resulting in a substantial increase in the volume of traffic on Cell C’s Edge-enabled network.
"Our new core network has enabled us to effectively manage this increase in our customer base," continues Hedberg. "Had we not migrated to the new core network technology, we would have had to build a network three times its current size."
“We will continue to offer innovative and value for money products and services, which have been the driver of Cell C's recent market offers.”


"I am confident that we are on the right track in providing what our customers require” says Hedberg.



"Cell C, like many other businesses in South Africa, faces significant challenges given the current economic climate, yet our team has the flexibility and capability to respond nimbly and with impact to our customers’ requirements".


http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/4922.html

[Lydon]

Africa could soon go from a severe shortage of international bandwidth to a glut


It’s almost too good to believe. A senior telecommunications industry analyst has predicted that Africa could soon go from a severe shortage of international bandwidth to a glut, as half a dozen or more submarine telecom cables come on stream.

Brian Neilson, research director at BMI-TechKnowledge, says if all the cables are built in the next few years as planned, there could be an oversupply of bandwidth similar to the one that occurred on transatlantic routes at the turn of the century. That drove prices down sharply, forcing some operators to write off their investments.

The first new cable that is likely to be switched on is the US$650m Seacom system, which is being constructed along Africa’s east coast.
Seacom, with a design capacity of 1,3Tbit/s, will connect SA and countries in East Africa with cable systems in France and India.
The system is being built with private funds. Local investors in the project include VenFin (with 25% of the equity), Cyril Ramaphosa’s Shanduka (with 12,5%) and Andile Ngcaba’s Convergence Partners (also with 12,5%). International group Herakles Telecom holds 25% of the equity.
The system is expected to come online in June 2009, possibly in time for the Fifa Confederations Cup, scheduled for the same month. It will be the first cable system to connect SA with Europe and Asia since the Sat-3/Safe system went live at the start of the decade.

According to Seacom, about 10 000km of the 15 000km cable has already been manufactured at locations in the US and Japan. Tyco Communications, the project contractors, will begin shipping terrestrial equipment this month, with the cable expected to be loaded on the first ship in September.

The final splicing, which involves connecting all cable sections together, will happen in April 2009, and will be followed by two months of final testing.

The connectivity from Egypt to France will be provided through Telecom Egypt’s TE North fibre, a new cable being laid across the Mediterranean Sea. The Red Sea route has proved problematic for cable operators because of a propensity by Egypt to charge high fees to carry traffic through the region, but Seacom negotiated a preferential deal well in advance of construction.

Another cable project, the East Africa Submarine System (Eassy), has been criticised by analysts for not negotiating transit routes through Egypt.

Instead, Eassy will terminate at Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Operators will need to negotiate onward contracts with other cable operators. Seacom, on the other hand, will provide direct access to Indian and European systems.

Eassy, which has been delayed for years — it was being planned long before Seacom was first mooted - is finally expected to come on stream some time in 2010. It has heavyweight backers, including MTN and Telkom (the latter contrary to government’s wishes).
But it is launching at least a year after Seacom and, with an ultimate design capacity of 680Gbit/s, has only half the design capacity of Seacom.

BMI-T’s Neilson says Seacom is furthest ahead of all the projects, has the simplest ownership structure and has all necessary supplier agreements in place.

But that’s not putting other investors off. Yet another cable could be built along a portion of Africa’s east coast. The East African Marine System (Teams), backed by the Kenyan government, is set to come online by the second quarter of 2009, linking the East African nation with the Middle East.

The Kenyans conceived of the project after squabbling with SA over the way Eassy should be managed.

Last year, SA, under the auspices of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, fell out with the incumbent telecommunications operators behind the Eassy project. This was after 11 countries, led by SA, tried to expropriate the submarine cable in what critics said would have amounted to nationalisation.

This led to considerable tension between Nepad and the World Bank, which had promised development finance to help pay for Eassy. The World Bank continues to support the project.

Last October, the Kenyans awarded an $82m contract to Alcatel-Lucent to build the 40Gbit/s, 4 500km Teams cable, which will link Mombasa with Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

The action is not confined to Africa’s east coast. On the other side of the continent, the Africa West Coast Cable (AWCC), which is backed by a dozen or so companies, is scheduled to be built by May 2010, just in time for the soccer World Cup.

The project was conceived by SA’s department of public enterprises and is led by newly created state-owned telecom operator Broadband Infraco, which holds 26% of AWCC’s equity.

The 3,8Gbit/s, $510m cable will run approximately 13 000km, from SA to London, roughly the same route as the ageing Sat-3 cable. The system will ultimately provide 32 times the bandwidth of Sat-3, which is expected to run out of capacity in the next few years.

Then there’s the controversial Uhurunet project, championed by SA’s communications department and by Nepad’s e-Africa Commission. The idea is to build a cable, at a cost of $1,4bn, encircling the continent. Communications department director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole is a vocal backer of the project.

But Uhurunet may have left it far too late, says Neilson. “It is very dependent on governments. Many governments equals many politicians,” he says. “Uhurunet may get there, but it will have to be significantly government-owned because investors will have already piled into the other initiatives.”

Another project along the west coast also bears watching. Nigeria’s Globacom wants to build a high-capacity, 9 500 km cable to Europe, with a branch to the US, at a cost of $250m. Details are sketchy, but it is understood that the cable will connect 14 West African countries. Globacom wants the cable in service by the second quarter of 2009.
A source says it is possible that Uhurunet will team up with Globacom, whose Glo Mobile subsidiary recently surpassed MTN to become Nigeria’s largest cellular operator, to build an additional leg of the cable between Lagos and Cape Town.

A senior SA government official says it’s more likely that the AWCC and Uhurunet projects will be merged, though Infraco CEO Dave Smith says there have been no talks in that regard.

Neilson remains sceptical about Uhurunet’s chances, but he expects the top four projects — Seacom, Eassy, Teams and AWCC — to go ahead.
But even without Uhurunet, there could be significant overcapacity, he says. “We could be looking at vast amounts of redundant capacity.”
He expects the cable systems to drive down bandwidth prices dramatically. Broadband prices in Africa remain easily the highest in the world, largely because of a lack of competition and a lack of international fibre capacity — most countries in East Africa must still rely on expensive satellite connectivity.

For operators, there are big opportunities in delivering broadband affordably, Neilson says. “Broadband will shape the next five to 10 years of telecom development across the continent, much as the past five to 10 years have been dominated by mobile voice services.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4923.html

[Lydon]

SA likely to miss out on digital TV for 2010


SLUGGISH progress by the government in defining standards for the conversion to digital TV means most South Africans will not see games in all their digital glory when the 2010 Soccer World Cup kicks off.
While numerous other countries will enjoy crisp, high-resolution pictures, most local viewers will still be watching in a low-resolution analogue format, said Gartner analyst Will Hahn. He made the prediction after assessing SA’s progress in meeting its technology commitments for 2010, which include a pledge to broadcast in high-definition TV (HDTV) format.
“It’s somewhat unlikely that SA will see the games in HDTV but the broadcast itself has to be HDTV capable,” he said.

Broadcasters and Parliament’s communications committee have already criticised the delay in drawing up a digital migration policy, which includes the specifications for set-top boxes to convert the signals. Marcel Golding, CEO of e.tv, warned the delay would hold back a full commercial launch for another 16 months.

Yet communications department director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole insisted the technology switchover would begin as planned by November 1, although viewers would still be able to watch analogue broadcasts until November 2011.

The government has pledged to Fifa that there will be no single point of failure when the matches are broadcast, and will roll out duplicate networks between all the stadia and the International Broadcast Centre in Johannesburg to guarantee “uptime” of 99,99%.

Hahn said broadcasting the World Cup was such a big undertaking that it had challenged even the most sophisticated networks in the past.
SA was largely on track, he said, although extracting information from the broadcasting and telecoms companies involved was proving difficult.
“It’s rather fashionable to doubt yourselves. There is nothing to compare your efforts to in terms of bravery, ambition and scope. Absolutely there could be problems, but I think things are going well,” he said at the Gartner conference in Cape Town this week.

The cellular networks should capitalise on World Cup fever by promoting mobile TV, letting them sell costly smartphones and supply video clips of match highlights or even full matches to viewers on the move.
“The operators are going to push hard to get mobile TV to you because of the relative disparity between smartphone penetration and TV penetration,” Hahn said.

He estimated that by 2010 there would be about 22 TV sets for every 100 people, while cellphone penetration was closer to 80%.

Hahn also warned businesses near a football stadium that they may as well close during a match because there may not be enough bandwidth to make calls or transmit data during the events. Thousands of people in the stadium will be sending text messages or photographs to their friends back home, phoning their colleagues to find out where they are, and filming the highlights and transmitting those home too.

That would soak up all the network capacity and leave neighbourhood businesses floundering. They might as well enter the spirit of things by setting up a big screen so their staff can watch the match rather than expect any productivity, Hahn said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4926.html

[Lydon]

Cell C is the process of reviewing its mobile data strategy



Cell C is the process of reviewing its mobile data strategy, with an announcement expected by year end, its chief executive said on Friday.

"We're in process of reviewing our mobile data strategy. I can't say much right now but we'll make an announcement about next generation data products by year end," CEO Jeffery Hedberg told I-Net Bridge in a phone interview.

Cell C currently serves its mobile data customers by its GPRS/EDGE network, which promises speed of up to 244kb/s. "We're very pleased with our GPRS and EDGE network at the moment," said Hedberg.

Cell is the only local operator that does not use 3G network.

Dubbed the poor cousin to local operators MTN Group and Vodacom, Cell C failed to turn profit for seven years since its inception in 2001, only cracking open the champagne in the 2007 financial year.

For the six months to June, total revenue has increased by R590m, a rise of 17%. Cell C has also recorded a strong improvement in operating profit of 36%, as compared to half year results of 2007 and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of R517m was achieved.

Cell C's active subscribers surged by 58% since June 2007 to 5.4m, largely due to the highly popular products such as Woza Weekend and the Hola 7 starter pack, resulting in a substantial increase in the volume of traffic on Cell C's EDGE-enabled network.
"Our new core network has enabled us to effectively manage this increase in our customer base," said Hedberg.

"Had we not migrated to the new core network technology, we would have had to build a network three times its current size," he added.

The focus for the remainder of the 2008 financial year would be on refining our processes and systems and ensuring an improved experience for its customers.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/4941.html

[Lydon]

Only 200 sign up during launch



DISGRUNTLED Telkom subscribers have been able to get Neotel’s competing wireless voice and Internet service from PostNet branches since March.

Though regulations say households should be allowed to keep their numbers if they change phone companies, this has not been implemented yet.

he hassle of changing contact details seems to have got the second landline telephone operator off to a slow start. Neotel hopes Telkom will implement number portability as required within the next month.

Only 200 residential users signed up during the April launch month, and Neotel has declined to give further updates. At its launch in March, Neotel said its target was 50000 residential subscribers by the end of its first year.

Wandile Zote, head of corporate communication at Neotel, said: “The process of installation is fairly simple, as long as the network coverage is available in the applicant’s area of residence.”

Neotel’s NeoConnect product line (which includes voice, data and Internet services) is still only available at PostNet outlets, but the company said it was in talks with other retailers to make the product more widely available.

Rajay Ambekar, IT analyst at Cadiz Asset Management, said: “The fact that there could be delays will have a negative effect on Neotel. It’s in Telkom’s best interest to delay as much as possible.”

Ambekar said that customers were more likely to wait for Geographic Number Portability to become available before they signed up for Neotel’s services, and the delays were hurting the company’s ability to advance with its offering.

According to a mandate set by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa , Telkom and Neotel are required to work closely together to ensure that the process of porting numbers between the two networks is seamless.

“Icasa will be meeting with the fixed-line operators on this issue, and only after that will there be clarity in regard to the fixed-line number portability process,” said Icasa spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela.

Customers must be able to have their numbers ported within 10 days for individual numbers and 20 days for blocks of numbers.

Ambekar said that while the delay of GNP was limiting to the growth of Neotel’s subscriber numbers, there were other factors to consider.

“Some of Telkom’s home and corporate customers, especially for broadband services, have entered into two-year contracts and there will be penalties if they migrate to Neotel.

“While there was a lot of noise about mobile number portability, there weren’t that many people who ported once the service became available,” Ambekar said.

[Lydon]

New TV channel will help clarify the Indian identity


The new DStv Indian channel, SaffronTV, will demystify South African Indians, says one of the anchor presenters, Strini Pillai.

He believes the channel’s local-content shows will help to clarify the Indian identity.

Pillai, Scandal actress and mother-to-be Sorisha Naidoo, Letisha Singh and Shalandra Bunseelall will form SaffronTV’s core presenting team when it launches next Saturday. The Sunday Times Extra show premiers on Sunday at 1pm.

Produced by Ochre Moving Pictures, the channel will offer viewers an exciting mix of local and international shows of special interest to the Indian community.

“Even though during the week we are going to have international content, the idea is to grow our local content,” said Pillai.

“We have fleshed out aspects that will appeal to the Indian community. I think through our programmes we will establish who the South African Indian is by linking Durban to Cape Town to Johannesburg.”

Pillai, a well-known face on TV, will host a cooking show, The Singing Chef, and Saffron Extra, the TV version of the Sunday Times Extra.

“The cooking show is very light-hearted, where I get to know my guests while preparing dishes. We also throw in a bit of karaoke.

“We’re not just about the glitz and glamour. We will also talk about the reality of being an Indian in South Africa.”

Naidoo said it had been an “absolute pleasure” working on the new channel .

“It’s a wonderful fusion of culture, gossip, real issues and trendy titbits we could all use,” she said.

Singh will host a weekday show promoting a healthy lifestyle by addressing aspects such as diet, nutrition, physical fitness and mental health, using conventional and alternative methods.

Bunseelall, a freelance presenter on DStv’s horse-racing channel, Tellytrack, will be the entertainment show host.

He will share the small screen with Bollywood buff Docky Dockrat. They will be keeping viewers abreast of showbiz happenings and gossip locally and abroad.

Said Bunseelal:”This show will be an entire hour dedicated to Indian entertainment. We will be giving loads of news, previews and gossip. There will be detailed celebrity interviews as well, a mixed bag of local and international performers.”

[Lydon]

Benefits such as free extra channels and better quality expected


The broadcasting sector is set for sweeping changes as a result of the analogue-to-digital switch-over.

Not only will consumers be forking out anywhere between R210 and R3 000 to access digital television, but additional channels are in the offing and the freed-up radio spectrum could result in more competition in the market come November 2011.

When digital airs on the scheduled date of November 1 2008, consumers who fork out R700 for the set-top box converter will be able to access additional channels for free.

The Mail & Guardian understands that consumers will be able to access the current three SABC channels and e.tv as well as a mooted additional free channel provided by e.tv.

M-Net, which will also be available to subscribers through the new set-top ox converter, could be providing an additional two free channels to its customers.

The SABC is also planning additional channels but it is unclear how many would be available on the new set-top box converter.

These new channels were included in an early department of communications implementation plan dated March 2007, but have been removed from the new policy document released last week.

The M&G understands that this was because the department could not be seen to be telling the regulator which stations to licence but that plans, according to industry sources, for these channels are still on track.
The department has allocated two radio spectrum frequencies for digital broadcast from November; each of these frequencies has the potential to carry up to nine channels.

One band has been allocated to public broadcasting and the other to commercial channels – the latter will carry the e.tv and M-Net channels.
These additional channels are part of the plan to incentivize consumers to make the switch to digital as soon as possible because the department needs to have all 7,5-million television households switched over to digital by November 1 2011.

When the period of dual illumination is completed in 2011 and the analog broadcast is switched off, the spectrum that will be freed up could allow for numerous new broadcasters to enter the market through the new set-top box.

The new policy document makes vague reference to these opportunities when it says that “the phased migration to the new digital services offers existing market participants the scope to plan their own commercial strategies to take advantage of the new digital opportunities”.
There is a reluctance to allow new competitors in from the beginning of digital broadcast in 2008 because they would have an unfair advantage over existing broadcasters, who would be paying for both analog and digital broadcasting while the new entrants would be paying only for the digital broadcast.

The M&G understands that once the analog broadcast is switched off, enough spectrum space could be freed up for an additional 45 channels, but it is unclear what government is planning to do with this spectrum.
While broadcasters would argue for diversification of the sector by allowing new competitors into the market, the spectrum could also be allocated to telecoms and IT companies.

These companies could use the freed-up spectrum to offer lucrative mobile telephony and wireless broadband services, while government could also have an eye on part of the spectrum for the delivery of government information and services.

Most international countries that have completed the analog-to-digital switchover auction off the excess spectrum. The United States’s recent spectrum auction raised a whopping $19,6-billion. However, it is unclear what South Africa’s communication’s department has in mind.

[JohanSA]

I wanna watch 2010 in full HDTV!!!! Question : Since DSTV is going HD and every second middle upper class person having a HD ready LCD or plasma TV are we going to be be able to watch it in HD on supersport if SABC cant provide it? Would make sence for Supersport to buy rights from SABC because it will boost subscriptions in the rest of Africa!

[Lydon]

I would expect so, yes. MultiChoice would most likely have the capacity to do so. All they would have to do is pull an international feed. They are the leading African satellite provider too, so they would most likely do something in order to broadcast in HD to other African countries.

[Lydon]

The World Cup will bring with it a boom in broadband access, says analyst.



Hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup will speed up the provision of massive bandwidth in South Africa and should bring down the price of telecoms services, an industry analyst predicted last week.

Will Hahn, a principal analyst at international IT consultancy Gartner, told a symposium in Cape Town that the Fifa requirement for high definition television had major implications for South Africa’s telecoms infrastructure.

“HDTV is the most bandwidth hungry, the most powerful application of television that you can have today,” Hahn said.

South Africans themselves were unlikely to be able to watch 2010 on HDTV, “but the broadcast itself will be HDTV capable and that has implications for the broadcasting infrastructure.”

“It’s got to be brought up to speed, so certainly it will accelerate the day when you will be able to see things in HDTV.” Hahn said the big screens at fan parks would be an ideal opportunity to introduce South Africans to HDTV. “It really is an extraordinary medium.”

Other benefits of generous bandwidth included video casts to cellphones and television delivered via the Internet.

“Casual use of enormous amounts of bandwidth — which unfortunately you guys can’t contemplate yet — is part of what you want to change in South Africa,” Hahn said. “Imagine, you pay an Internet access bill once, it’s a flat rate, and you do whatever you damn well please.

“You watch TV off the computer. I’m confident that you will, I can’t tell you exactly when.”

Another Gartner analyst, Mark Raskino, told local IT players that South Africa was missing out on major economic benefits by failing to develop itself as an IT hub on the Indian model.

He urged South Africa not to respond to the shortage of IT skills by following the UK example of outsourcing.

“[You] have education here, so there’s massive opportunity to become an IT service centre, an IT economy,” Raskino said.

“At the moment you are leaving opportunity on the shelf.” He told delegates they should take the initiative themselves.

“You don’t set up an IT industry by waiting for the government to do it.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Broadband/4963.html

[Lydon]

iBurst and Tenet users can expect better access following connection to Joburg Internet Exchange



Hundreds of thousands of Tertiary Education Network (Tenet) academic users and almost 60 000 iBurst subscribers should have improved Internet access after the two organisations connected to the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (Jinx).

Jinx enables ISPA (Internet Service Providers' Association of SA) members to interconnect networks and exchange local traffic in order to save costs. Advantages for Internet users include reduced latency and increased reliability.

"Companies with their networks connected to Jinx are able to offer their customers improved access speeds to other JINX-connected networks. This removes bottlenecks caused by over subscribed international connections and provides additional redundancy and reliability to these networks," said Rob Hunter, chair of ISPA's Jinx Working Group.

This is of particular importance to applications where latency is an important consideration such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP customers communicating between two Jinx-connected ISPs should experience a higher quality of service.

Hunter added that Jinx supports IPv6 and will encourage its members to ensure they are fully IPv6 ready in 2008. IPv6 is the successor to IPv4 which is the current version of the Internet Protocol (IP) used for communicating data across the Internet. The key advantage of IPv6 is that it has a much larger address space allowing for greater flexibility in assigning addresses. Regional Internet Registries worldwide are expected to run out of IPv4 addresses in the near future.

JINX currently interconnects most major South African IP backbones and is currently hosted in Rosebank, Johannesburg by Internet Solutions.

ISPA is planning a significant upgrade to the JINX switch in the third quarter of 2008 to cater for increased demand. In 1996, Jinx's four links boasted speeds varying from 64 kilobits per second to 256 kilobits per second.

Twelve years later, Jinx has more than 20 links in place with link speeds that vary from 2 megabits to 1 gigabit per second. Peak traffic exchanged at Jinx has doubled in the last year after doubling in the previous year as well.

ISPA hopes that the ability to easily exchange IP traffic at Jinx will encourage new members to join the Association which already represents 150 large, medium and small Internet service and access providers in South Africa.

The Internet Service Providers' Association is a South African Internet industry body incorporated not for gain. ISPA has historically served as an active industry body, facilitating exchange between the different independent Internet service providers, the Department of Communications, ICASA, operators and other service providers in South Africa.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/4985.html

[Lydon]

Vodacom is set to launch its WiMax service in the next few weeks



Vodacom and iBurst is planning to launch their WiMax services in the beginning of October. These services will be mainly aimed at business customers in the Western Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng.

The WiMAX Broadband service is targeted at the Small and Medium Enterprise businesses, whilst the WiMAX Assured Rate service, which is a leased line substitute service, is targeted at larger businesses and corporate companies.

Vodacom initially planned an August commercial launch, but the company said that despite the fact that Vodacom WiMax has been commercially available nationwide from 15 August 2008, it has pushed back the commercial launch due to a worldwide shortage of CPEs (customer premise equipment).

“Many operators are launching their services within the same time frames, putting strain on the manufacturer’s ability to produce quantities to satisfy demand. This is largely due to wave 2 compliance to the IEEE802.16e standard, which was finalised by the IEEE last October,” Vodacom said.

Vodacom started rolling out the WiMax network – which is officially owned and controlled by WBS - a few months ago using Huawei and Alcatel as vendors.
Vodacom has been contracted by WBS to build, implement and maintain the WiMax network, and has built 120 WiMax base stations nationally.

Spectrum and standards

One of the main obstacles in cost-effectively building the WiMax network and providing affordable broadband services to customers is the lack of spectrum.
WBS has been granted 15 MHz of spectrum by ICASA which is planning to upgrade current licenses to 20 Mhz. According to Vodacom a date has not yet been communicated for this upgrade.

Wally Beelders, Executive Director at Vodacom Business, points out that 30Mhz of WiMax spectrum is needed before economies of scale emanating from such an allocation could be passed onto the customer.

Industry has been lobbying for WiMax spectrum allocation of at least 30 MHz per operator, but ICASA seems to stand firm in its decision to hand out 20 MHz each in the 2.5 GHz band to six additional players.

Vodacom has rolled out a mobile WiMax network based on the IEEE 802.16e standard. Questions have however been raised about this decision, citing the fact that fixed WiMax (802.16d standard) is far more cost effective to roll out and questioning the future of the 802.,16e standard.

Vodacom said that the IEEE 802.16e standard was chosen because it is a progressive standard and the next evolution in WiMax.

“The service is being deployed as static at the moment, due to the limited capacity the current spectrum allocation imposes on each cell. Mobility will be considered once capacity is increased either by an increased spectrum and or enhanced spectral efficiency offered by planned revisions of the IEEE 802.16e standard,” said Beelders.
“To make mobility economically viable given the current constraints would result in unacceptably high tariffs and low subscriber adoption. This is the first network on this standard to be launched in Africa,” Beelders concluded.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Wireless/4971.html

[Lydon]

Telkom still keen to sell stake in Vodacom



Telkom has yesterday issued a further cautionary announcement regarding the non binding proposal by Vodafone to acquire a portion of Telkom's stake in Vodacom.

The non binding proposal from Vodafone is subject to, inter alia, Telkom unbundling its remaining stake in Vodacom to Telkom shareholders.

The discussions with Vodafone are still ongoing and shareholders are therefore advised to continue to exercise caution when dealing in Telkom securities until a further announcement is made,” Telkom said.

“In fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities, the Telkom Board is committed to concluding these discussions expeditiously.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4996.html

[Lydon]

iBurst and Vodacom explains their WiMax pricing



Vodacom and iBurst will soon launch their WBS WiMax services commercially, competing directly against Telkom’s ADSL and leased line services. These WiMax offerings will be aimed to businesses looking for a substitute for Telkom’s fixed line offerings.

The WBS WiMax services will come in two basic flavours – an assured rate service and a best effort broadband service. The best effort broadband WiMax service will be offered at 512 Kbps and 1 Mbps speeds.

iBurst recently released the WBS WiMax pricing which ranges from R855.00 per month for the broadband service, capped at 5 GB, at 512Kbps all the way through to R11 616.00 per month for the top end assured rate service.

The best effort broadband pricing came under fire from consumers, especially since it is significantly more expensive than Telkom’s WiMax offering. The service is also more expensive that Telkom’s ADSL offerings without the flexibility of selecting your own ISP and many different account types.

Vodacom and iBurst is however confident that their pricing falls in line with industry standards and that their service will be able to compete against similar services in the market.

iBurst said that it can not disclose how the pricing levels were calculated for WiMax due to confidentiality, but feels that it is not out of line with current market related prices.

“An appropriate comparison must be made when comparing iBurst WiMAX to that of Telkom's offering. When compared to a similar Telkom broadband offering is slightly more expensive, the difference is due to the symmetrical access i.e. same upload and download speeds, designed to support increasing upload speed requirements by SMEs to support hosted applications,” iBurst said.

“When compared with Telkom’s dedicated Internet access and other layer 3 services, pricing is similar and in some instances less expensive. According to Telkom’s call centre they only offer WiMAX in instances where ADSL cannot be offered to customers that have applied for an ADSL line, it is not freely available as a product option.”

Compete against ADSL?

When asked whether iBurst is confident that their WiMax service will be able to compete against Telkom’s ADSL offering, the company said that their WiMax broadband product has been implemented to provide a competitive substitute to ADSL in the SME market.

“It has the added convenience of being a one step ordering process that includes bandwidth and Internet access. The only prerequisites for service subscription are credit vetting and that the installation location falls within the coverage area,” said iBurst.

Vodacom added that Telkom’s WiMax service is only offered to customers in cases where they have applied for ADSL and it is not available. “Customers are required to have a Telkom line installed before they can subscribe to the service,” said Vodacom.
It seems that iBurst and Vodacom are banking on an easier product application and installation process to compete against Telkom’s offerings. The fact that Telkom’s pricing is more competitive and the installation process is cheaper may however make life difficult for the two wireless broadband providers.

At a monthly price of R 1 334.00 for a 1 Mbps WiMax service with 10 GB of shaped bandwidth many business may feel that Telkom’s 4 Mbps ADSL service with a similar usage allowance at around R 1 100.00 is a better option.

iBurst and Vodacom is likely to commercially launch their WiMax services in the beginning of October.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Wireless/4972.html

[Lydon]

Fibre is the way to provide true broadband, says Neotel.



The explosion of the Internet has meant that global data bandwidth has dwarfed voice bandwidth. This makes Vint Cerf’s words “IP over everything and everything over IP” quite prophetic, and this is becoming increasingly obvious in South Africa.
Telkom, Vodacom, MTN and Neotel are investing heavily in fibre-based, new-generation networks.

In these networks internet protocol (IP) is the de facto bearer of all future services, and has not only made network distance less relevant but also given rise to true convergence of services such as voice, broadband and content.

According to Neotel there is a rapid migration to IP in the enterprise segment, with the adoption factor in Europe and US moving from 28% in 2005 to 74% by 2008.

True broadband

While the backhaul network architecture is an important factor in the delivery of any telecoms service, last mile access is equally important in the provisioning of broadband.

South Africa’s fastest broadband service currently is 4Mbps ADSL from Telkom, followed by Vodacom and MTN’s 3.6Mbps HSDPA services.

Neotel however feels that “to deliver rich, real-time content, we can now talk of ‘Broadband 2.0’, providing speeds of multiple Mbits/s per customer simultaneously".
The company points out that these speeds must however not be the technological upper limit of the last mile access technology which is often mentioned, but rather the sustained throughput experienced by the end user.

Neotel said that triple play services – a combination of broadband, voice and video – is currently the benchmark, and that the true broadband market is distinct from the 3G mobile environment.

Neotel has indicated that fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) is in its broadband roadmap, and that this technology is most suitable to provide consumers with true broadband services.

Telkom may however have a head start on Neotel to provide triple play services over its network through its existing copper infrastructure and by shortening the local loop for the delivery of ADSL 2+. ADSL 2+ can provide speeds of up to 24Mbps as long as the quality of the copper is good enough and the local loop length is short enough – typically less than 1.5km.

Neotel has, however, indicated that apart from the odd chance of a successful local loop unbundling process, it has no plans to use copper in any part of its network. This, the company said, is partly due to the continued problem of copper theft.

Broadband prices

According to Brian Nielson, research director at BMI-Technology, prices in the telecoms and broadband space will continue to fall.

“Probably the best example of competition starting to really bite in South Africa has been in the broadband internet services arena. Until recently this competitive behaviour has been largely driven by the mobile operators, which have introduced globally competitive mobile data prices in South Africa,” said Nielson.

“When Neotel launched its fixed wireless voice and data services in April 2008, this added a new dimension of competition in the broadband internet market, due to the attractively prices data packages, including those for seriously data-intensive users.”
The effect of Neotel’s pricing is yet to be seen in price and service adjustments from Telkom, Vodacom and MTN, but as the company expands its coverage and starts to increase its market share consumers can expect the big three to respond.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Broadband/4944.html

[Lydon]

Why should ICASA engage in BEE issues?



One of the features of the Internetix event staged by Internet Solutions was a panel discussion with leaders in the telecommunications industry. The theme of Internetix 08 was Africa Rise and my compliments to IS for providing the platform to debate the changing landscape of communications in South Africa. Whether or not the landscape has changed much since last year’s panel discussion was debated with frankness by the panellists.

Ajay Pandey, MD and CEO of Neotel was outspoken about the issue of deregulation. He said that "there is so much good practice elsewhere in the world that we should make them our own."

Vodacom’s Alan Knott-Craig said that "South Africa’s poor penetration of the internet is because of regulation. We need new ways of dealing with it – re-architect the process!" Telkom’s Thami Masimango agreed. He said that industry should be able to influence policy and not be seen as the attackers of policy.

The man in the middle of the debate, Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA)’s chairman Paris Mashile, said that consumers have a weak voice and need to be protected. However industry should adapt. "We are all in it together. Every one has a stake in achieving an optimal solution." From the debate it became clear that industry wants deregulation and government wants to control. Yes, ICASA holds public hearings but they delay the process. As Pandey said: why can’t we adopt best practices and stop inventing our own?

One of the main issues in the debate was about allocation of frequencies for WiMAX. The market must be liberalised and space opened up for new players. Value added networks should help to deliver in the ICT sector. Revoke restrictions so that everyone can compete freely. Another principle that should be implemented is "use it or lose it". Currently much of the available WiMAX spectrum is licensed to operators who hold onto the frequencies but show little effort in actually deploying services.

The question of WiMAX spectrum allocation to Sentech was a point in question. While Mashile agreed with the concept of use it or lose it, he defended the allocation to Sentech which up to now is not being used. His point was that Sentech should be given a fair chance to come to an investment agreement with its bosses, the Department of Communication. He said "for all we know it is imminent." His comment did not find much favour.

The other issue is that any WiMAX licensee must have a 51% BEE ownership. Why should ICASA engage in BEE issues? Its job must be to regulate and ensure that spectrum is used in the most economic way. Bandwidth allocation is another issue. Why is ICASA stuck on 20 MHz when the international norms are closer to 30 MHz? What is the point of cramming more operators in the available spectrum when from the start, the 20 MHz allocation will be inadequate?

Spectrum allocation versus spectrum auction is yet another issue. Mashile explained that ICASA does not favour spectrum auctions as it leads to monopolies with a few large operators obtaining spectrum and not using it to roll-out services but rather to keep out competition. "ICASA favours a pay-as-you-earn approach. Allocate the spectrum to those who will economically benefit South Africa and charge them based on their income or turnover." He said that the treasury had agreed to such an approach.

Should ICASA not stick to its job to regulate the telecommunications environment? Empowerment should not be its call. If other government agencies are doing their job, empowerment issues should never be a problem as everyone would compete for spectrum and licences on an equal basis. Too much interference will lead us nowhere. Let competition regulate the market.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4946.html

[Lydon]

MTN reported that its subscribers grew 53% to 74.1 million



MTN Group (MTN) reported that group subscribers grew 53% to 74.1 million in the six months ended June compared with 48.2 million subscribers at June 2007.
This was a 21% increase from 61.4 million at end December 2007.

Adjusted headline earnings per share rose 26% to 408.5 cents from 324.7 cents a year ago.

Revenue was up 35% to 46.1 billion rand from June 2007, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up 29% to 19.6 billion rand from a year ago.

The group said the results were achieved against the background of increased investment in infrastructure and distribution to cater for ever increasing demand.
MTN delivered a sound performance in the six months to 30 June 2008, driven mainly by subscriber growth in increasingly competitive markets, it said.

In the six months from December 2007 subscribers in the WECA region increased by 16% to 32.5 million, in the SEA region by 9% to 21 million and the MENA region recorded a 47% increase to 20.6 million.

The growth in the MENA region over the last six months was mainly driven by a 93% increase in subscribers in Irancell to 11.6 million.

MTN consolidates only 49% of Irancell financials thereby diluting the impact on revenue and EBITDA growth.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) has marginally declined in most operations, which is consistent with increased penetration into lower usage segments, MTN said.
MTN South Africa performed well in a very competitive environment and despite the slowdown in consumer spending in many sectors due to rising interest rates, inflation and the rising fuel prices.

Subscribers increased by 5% to 15.6 million in June 2008 from 14.8 million in December 2007, mainly due to strong growth in prepaid subscribers which grew 6% to 13 million and to a lesser extent the 4% growth in postpaid subscribers to 2.6 million.

The introduction of MTN Zone, the prepaid dynamic tariffing price plan, in February 2008 together with the continued impact of low denomination vouchers played a major role in the acquisition of prepaid subscribers.

MTN Zone had 4.5 million users at the end of June 2008, of which 400,000 were estimated to be new connections.

Looking ahead, MTN said given the current developments in the global telephony market, the group’s prospects for the second half of 2008 remain positive in increasingly competitive markets.

MTN’s major strategic priorities are actively seeking value-accretive expansion opportunities in emerging markets, ongoing infrastructure investment to ensure appropriate levels of capacity and quality of service, ensuring the Group is well positioned to benefit from a rapidly converging technology market and optimising efficiencies in maintaining and improving competitive position, it said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5010.html

[Lydon]

Will we see a dramatic reduction in the cost of broadband connectivity?



For many years the South African public was told that the high cost of broadband access to the internet was the direct result of limited overseas connectivity and Telkom's high bandwidth charges. In addition, the utility owns the landing rights to the SAT3 submarine cable.

Seacom’s 1280 GB capacity cable will dramatically increase SA’s international connectivity but will the local network be able to handle it?

Telkom has been talking about increasing its fastest broadband offering internet access to speeds that will handle IPTV, yet every enquiry has resulted in a "no comment".

Amongst the telecommunications journalists there is a general belief that Telkom’s national network would not be able to handle the traffic until the company has completed the evolution of its network to a new generation network.

But why is Seacom different?

Seacom is an African project with a majority of African ownership that separates ownership from use of capacity. This is a very important point. It means that it sells the capacity to service providers at a wholesale rate. Seacom has a 76,25% African shareholding and a 23,75% international shareholding.

The projected prices look promising. Depending on volume, the cost is expected to be anywhere between $45 and $117 per megabit per month, some 10 times lower than current rates.

The question of what the South African consumer will be paying for broadband will depend to a large extent on the telecommunication and service providers.
They can set their own prices. In a competitive environment that should result in lowering the cost of telecommunication.

The minister of communication has another view. Last year at Telkom’s SATNAC conference Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said that the government should be involved, as competition has up to now not shown a serious attempt to reduce telecommunication costs.

Empowering education

Seacom said that it will reduce the cost of international bandwidth for universities and research institutions in South Africa by 5 000%.

To put this figure in perspective: it amounts to 50 times the amount of bandwidth for the price currently paid to Telkom by the university network, TNet. The bandwidth that these institutions will have after June/July next year is almost equal to that currently available to the entire South African population.

Futhermore, after six years, the institutions will own the capacity for the remaining life of the cable, resulting in huge annual savings.

Seacom has extended the below-cost bandwidth offer to the alliance of Southern and Eastern African universities called uBhuntuNet, further enhancing inter- university cooperation.

New cable-laying concept

In the past submarine cable companies would splice repeaters into the cable every so many kilometres as the cable was lowered onto the ocean bed from the cable-laying ship. In the case of Seacom, the repeaters are integrated with the cable in the factory and the complete assembly is rolled out from the cable ship and lowered to the ocean floor. This significantly shortens the cable lying time.

The full construction was initiated on the back of the marine survey and pre-engineering work that Tyco completed in October 2007. Subsequently, Seacom and Tyco Telecommunications brought the construction contract for the full delivery of the system into force on 13 November 2007.

Brian Herlihy, Seacom president, said: “This US$10-million venture investment permitted Seacom to complete long-lead time work and initiate an 18-month construction programme to further entrench our ready-for-service date and ensure maximum traction in what is today a very tight supply market.”

The in-service date of June/July 2009 is important in view of the World Cup Soccer in 2010.

In South Africa the cable will land at Mtunzini on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. Seacom will construct three buildings at the landing station.

Building 1 will receive the submarine cable and interconnect the backhaul to Johannesburg. Building 2 will accommodate the power back-up, air-conditioning and other services. Building 3 makes provision for open co-location to ensure open access.

The station will be outfitted with direct interconnect to the submarine fibre optic network, ensuring that all carriers have open and equal access to the submarine fibre cable.

The approximately 17 000 km route will link South Africa to Mumbai in India and Marseille in France via Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Seacom will use the TE cable station in Ras Sidr, Egypt near Suez, to land the cable. From there, Seacom will own a system within the TE Transit Corridor to reach France seamlessly through the Mediterranean.

In the event of damage to the Mediterranean portion of the cable, the system can be switched in Egypt onto one of several other cables through the Mediterranean.
Dual fibre pairs service Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar
The landing rights at Mtunzini are owned by Neotel, South Africa’s second network operator. However the agreement is such that Neotel will not exercise exclusive landing rights which is the case with Telkom and SAT3.

Cross-country traffic

While the Seacom submarine cable is an important part of the solution to South Africa's bandwidth issues, it is actually a wider deployment of advanced fibre optic networks within the country that will solve our ever-growing traffic demands. As alluded to at the beginning of the article, it is doubtful if Telkom and Neotel have enough fibre capacity to meet the demand that Seacom will create.

Given the frustrating bandwidth bottlenecks and comparatively high costs that South African broadband customers have had to contend with in recent years, it is not surprising that the Seacom project, and the 1,28 Tb of bandwidth
t promises to deliver, is being so eagerly anticipated. Yet is it the complete solution to South Africa's bandwidth woes?

"Yes and no," argues Robert Wuestenenk, senior manager: broadband networks at Ericsson's Market Unit sub-Saharan Africa.

"Of course, the extra international bandwidth is badly needed and it will definitely help address the current shortfall, but it will be some time before the extra capacity delivered brings prices down. Operators will obviously first have to recover their costs on these very expensive inter-country networks and so it is likely to be at least another three years before we see the real benefits of the submarine cable."

While high-capacity inter-country connections, like the Seacom cable, are an important aspect of the solution, Wuestenenk maintains that it is the fibre optic-based networks themselves that are integral to meeting most countries growing bandwidth requirements.

At recent media events Neotel has indicated that it has enough fibre between the major centres of South Africa to handle the anticipated increase in traffic. Whoever is right, Seacom will make the difference South Africa has been waiting for!
This US$10-million venture investment permitted Seacom to complete long-lead time work and initiate an 18-month construction programme to further entrench the ready-forservice date.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4949.html

[Lydon]

Neotel has finally arrived and is introducing one service after the other



Neotel has finally arrived. It has taken some time for South Africa’s second network operator to get up to speed, but now the company is introducing one service after the other. The first enterprise customers were connected last year. In May this year Neotel launched its consumer services in Johannesburg and Pretoria, followed closely by Cape Town and Durban.

Neotel MD and COO, Ajay Pandey refers to the past two years as a journey of growth. Celebrating its second birthday at the end of August, the company now employs over 900 people and has offices in all major centres of its coverage area and a presence at Postnet outlets where customers can order Neotel services.

Speaking to journalists at a media briefing recently, Pandey said that the company currently has a presence in 180 of the 360 South African top companies. "On the consumer side we started in May with 22 base stations in the Johannesburg/Pretoria area which, during the past few months, has doubled to 44. Consumer services are now also available in parts of Cape Town and Durban.

"A base station covers an area of roughly one to one and a half kilometres. We limit services to this footprint to ensure that we meet customers' high quality expectations, he said. "Base station roll-out is exponential, greatly increasing our coverage areas."
Neotel is South Africa’s first truly converged network offering voice and data on one network. The company delivers it services using different technologies. Enterprise customers are served by fibre cable or WiMAX connections while consumer services are delivered using CDMA.

The first WiMAX connections were launched in July delivering multiplay enterprise services. "Just the speed of deployment of wireless technologies means that we can install in the minimum of time," Rajeev Sinha, head: products and solutions said. "Add to that the scalability of the product which allows the customer to increase their bandwidth with no physical intervention and the ability for true multiplay, data, internet and voice; we have a truly winning combination." Enterprise Wireless offers companies another choice of connectivity. Where no fibre to the curb is available, wireless services can fill the gap, either permanently or until a fibre connection becomes available. Where customers have smaller bandwidth requirements, less than 2 Mbps, wireless becomes a suitable alternative to fibre.

Neotel uses two technologies in providing enterprise wireless last mile access, WiMAX 802.16D and VectaStar using the 3,5 and 10,5 GHz bands. The inherent advantage of wireless is that its will take Neotel only seven days to install.

The latest development in Neotel’s enterprise business is number-portability with Telkom. The first block of numbers has been successfully ported from Telkom. While they are currently still executing the test cases to check routing, billing, etc., it is a massive step toward giving South African corporate customers the freedom to choose their telecommunications services.

"We have been working very closely with Telkom to put the necessary systems in place for geographic number-portability," says Stefano Mattiello, executive head: Enterprise Group at Neotel. "The impact on the customer is enormous as it now allows them the flexibility of choosing the best service provider to meet their needs, while retaining the number that their customers have come to know."

According to Mattiello, the process of portability is completely seamless, making it much easier for the customer. "During the porting process, the numbers will be advertised on both the Telkom and Neotel networks for 48 hours to allow for a smooth transition and ensure that all calls continue to be routed without interruption."
Mattiello says the next generation network Neotel has deployed has inherent number-portability capabilities. "This means that we have not needed to deploy any additional technologies and therefore it has been much easier for us to get to this stage," he concludes.

On the consumer side Neotel offers a CMA EV DO phone developed by Du Pont Telecoms. The phone was developed to Neotel’s specification and incorporates voice and an internet connection. In addition, the phone features caller ID, call hold, speed dials, phonebook and SMS functionality. The phone offers data rates of up to 2, 4 Mbps downlink and up to 153, 6 Mbps uplink. It is battery-backed up so it will not be affected by interruption in the mains supply.

One of the disappointments is that the phone doesn’t include an Ethernet port to connect to a home LAN. "We designed this product with customers in mind who still use a dial-up connections to the internet," Dr. Angus Hay, chief technology officer, said. "Ethernet ports chew up power and would require a more substantial power back-up. We are working with various vendors to develop a suitable device and hope to launch an Ethernet option soon".

While CDMA offers mobility, Neotel has not enabled hand-over between cells as that would infringe their licence conditions. One can however take the phone to any other cell and use it there.

Neotel has also built a network operations centre (NOC) which monitors the network on a 24 X 7 basis. The NOC was built by Nokia Siemens Networks which also has the maintenance and training contact. The 75 technicians manning the NOC have been trained by Siemens Nokia Networks and continue to receive over the shoulder assistance for the next few months.

"All our services are proactively monitored. We often deal with a problem long before the customer becomes aware of it," Mattiello said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4948.html

[ToxicBunny]

Lydon : Its awesome that you're posting news articles from MyBB... Maybe as an idea, also post a link to the discussions of each news story at the bottom of the post, would be nice to get guys from here posting on MyBB as well, and vice versa. :)

[Lydon]

Will do :)

[p2bsa]

Tech firm's Olympic honour for SA
29 August 2008 at 06h33

While South Africa had a dismal performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which ended at the weekend, a leading Pietermaritzburg technology company scored a major deal to install its hi-tech parking guidance system at the iconic Bird's Nest National Stadium in the Chinese capital.

Nortech International had its IdentiPark parking guidance system installed at the expansive parking facility underneath the Bird's Nest - the main venue of this year's Olympics, where the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies were also held.
According to Nortech, its hi-tech system accurately indicates what space is available before entering the facility, and then guides a driver with illuminated signs to the most convenient areas of minimal congestion, where the occupancy of parking bays is shown by red and green lights.

This provides a person with a hassle-free method of finding parking, especially in Beijing, which is rapidly becoming congested and polluted despite major clean-up efforts for the games.

"In fact, the IdentiPark system's green credential, through its low use of power, was among the factors that swayed the decision," said Jonathan Hallowes, managing director of Nortech.

"It's the best system in the world and was rigorously tested for many years before installation. We have installations all over the world from America to the United Kingdom, Europe, Hong Kong, China and other places in the Far East. They have all been operating without a hitch," he said.

Hallowes said that a rival parking system at O R Tambo Airport caused had chaos earlier this month when it showed vacant spaces in areas and where bays were full, and resulted in many late departures.

"That system was not ours, but a breakdown like that is a nightmare, producing exactly the opposite of what was intended.

"It vindicates the extensive testing and systems development that we go through.

"Local examples of how a guidance system should work are at Cavendish Square in Cape Town or Scottsville Mall in PMB (experimental site) and this heralds many more to come throughout South Africa. Accolades have poured in from Cavendish Square users," he said.

He said that just exporting to the emerging economic powerhouse of China was an achievement.

But securing the prestigious Bird's Nest site deserves Nortech a medal.

Source: http://www.ioltechnology.co.za/article_page.php?iSectionId=2884&iArticleId=4582114


... Another PMB-based JSE-listed company, Hulamin, did SA proud at the 2008 Olympics... it alluminium products has been used in a few of the new Olympic facilities in Beijing

[Lydon]

ONE of Nigeria’s wealthiest entrepreneurs has made a surprise bid to Telkom



ONE of Nigeria’s wealthiest entrepreneurs has made a surprise bid to Telkom, proposing to create a pan-African telecoms giant by marrying Telkom’s 50% stake in Vodacom with Nigeria’s cellular operator Globacom.

The bid threatens to disrupt a plan already at an advanced stage for Telkom to shed its 50% stake in Vodacom by selling 12,5% to the UK operator Vodafone for R18,75bn and distributing the rest to its own investors.

The man behind the move is Mike Adenuga Jnr, who owns 100% of Globacom and has interests in real estate, the Equatorial Trust Bank and Conoil. Globacom serves 18-million subscribers, making it Nigeria’s largest operator after MTN. It also runs networks in Benin and Ghana. Adenuga has submitted his proposal to Telkom.
Mowana Investment is the local broker for the last-minute bid. Its director, Joe Fizelle, said the new deal offered far better prospects for Telkom shareholders than seeing Vodacom subsumed by Vodafone.

Fizelle hopes the proposal will be considered as he believes it offers value and growth potential to Telkom shareholders. The deal would see 100% of Globacom merge with Telkom’s 50% stake in Vodacom in a new listed entity dubbed “Vodaglo”, with an estimated value of R140bn.

Mowana believes Globacom and 50% of Vodacom are each worth about R70bn, and would be equal partners in Vodaglo.

Telkom’s fixed-line business would remain separately listed, but could work with the Nig- erian operator to fulfil Telkom’s goal of offering a blend of fixed and mobile services in numerous other African countries.

The deal would thwart Vodafone’s ambition to take control of Vodacom, but the UK operator could benefit by having Globacom as its Africa partner, Fizelle said.
Mowana hopes that the government, with a 39% stake in Telkom, will find the Nigerian offer more attractive than the idea of retaining a minority interest in Vodacom and seeing it become British owned.

Under the Nigerian offer, Telkom shareholders would hold stakes in both the fixed-line and mobile entities and enjoy pan-African growth from both, Fizelle said.
One analyst said Globacom’s proposal was interesting but unlikely. Talks with Vodafone had a high probability of success, he said, as the offer was generous to Telkom shareholders, and separating Vodacom out of Telkom would unlock the value of both entities.

He questioned whether Vodafone could block the attempt to merge Vodacom with Globacom. But Fizelle said Vodafone would not be able to stop the move as Globacom would be merging with only the 50% of Vodacom that was owned by Telkom.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5020.html

Discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133289)

[Lydon]

Vodacom has acquired Gateway Communications



Vodacom has agreed to acquire the carrier services and business network solutions subsidiaries of Gateway Telecommunications for an enterprise value of approximately US$675 million plus a makewhole payment of approximately US$25 million in relation to Gateway’s high-yield bond.

Gateway Communications has customers in over 40 African countries and offices in 17 of these countries. According to the company website their African network connects over 583 million people across the continent.

As a pan African provider of communications infrastructure and services Gateway Communications gives Vodacom an easy entrance into markets which it previously may not have had a strong foothold in.

This move sends a strong signal to the market that Vodacom is expanding its African operations and is looking to extend its reach both horizontally - in terms of more service offerings - and vertically through penetrating new markets.

Commenting on the transaction, Pieter Uys, Chief Executive Officer designate of Vodacom Group, said: “The acquisition of Gateway reflects Vodacom’s strategy to reposition itself as a leading pan-African provider of communications services and to diversify from its current status as primarily a mobile-centric network operator. We believe that Gateway’s significant presence across Africa will allow Vodacom to tap into the huge potential for growth in business services and connectivity and will enhance our position with multinational corporations.”

Peter Gbedemah, Chief Executive Officer of Gateway added: “This is an exciting milestone in Gateway’s development as a unique pan-African service provider. We will increase resources, efficiency, and product range and continue our relentless focus on meeting the requirements of all Africa’s mobile networks and multi-national corporations.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5016.html

Discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133285)

[Lydon]

MTN is making heavy investment in its networks a top priority



CELLULAR operator MTN is making heavy investment in its networks a top priority, aiming to sink almost R25bn into its infrastructure by the end of this year.

Congestion on its networks in Nigeria has cost it market share, and its operations in other countries also risk losing ground because they are unable to keep pace with demand, CEO Phuthuma Nhleko said yesterday.

Since its subscribers have soared 53% to 74,1-million compared with 43,3-million a year ago, its operations are taking strain.

MTN has approved capital expenditure of R30,5bn for the year, with R7bn earmarked for jacking up its network in SA and R13bn for Nigeria. So far it has commissioned various projects costing R24,5bn, but it must step up its pace as it has only spent R10,3bn in the six months to June 30.

MTN’s interim results issued yesterday showed no slowdown in its growth. Revenue of R46bn was up 35% from R34,2m a year ago, although profit after tax rose a more modest 10,5% from R6,3bn to R6,7bn. That was largely because the end of a tax holiday in Nigeria saw its overall tax rate spike to a hefty 44%. That should stabilise to somewhere under 40%, Nhleko said.

Diluted earnings a share rose 14,1% from 286,cc to 326,6c.
One analyst said the results were “great” and the future looked even
Nhleko said little about MTN’s abortive effort to tie up with India’s Bharti or Reliance Telecoms earlier this year, and said fresh speculation that it was considering entering South America was the result of “fertile imaginations.”

Mergers or acquisitions were important to diversify its earnings and risks, and to gain economies of scale, he said, and MTN was always looking for opportunities. “We haven’t looked at South America. Africa, the Middle East and most probably further east is the most logical expansion area for us.”

Not all existing cellular operators would survive, and MTN intended to be on the acquisitive end of the inevitable mergers, he said.

One analyst said MTN would continue to expand in Africa by picking up small operators.

In SA, profit margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) fell from 35,5% to 33,5% as it made amends for a previous lack of investment in network capacity. Nigeria remains its more vigorous growth market, with a revenue of R13,4bn for the interim period generated by 18,5-million users. Yet its activities were stifled by network congestion serious enough for the regulatory authority to fine it $20m and ban it from advertising until it increased its call-carrying capacity.
MTN’s operation in Iran produced its first after-tax profit, posting Ebitda of R563m, up from a loss of R181m.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5019.html

Discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133318)

[Lydon]

Court rules in favour of the self provisioning of VANS



Altech Autopage recently launched legal action seeking a court ruling which would confirm its right to self provide its own network under its Value-Added Network Service (VANS) licence. A successful bid means that Altech Autopage – and all other VANS licensees – should receive Individual ECNS licences from ICASA.

“The court application seeks to clarify the rights of VANS licensees to have their licences converted to I-ECNS which would allow them to build and own their own networks should they choose to do so, as they will no longer need to rely on the infrastructure of other network operators like Telkom and Neotel,” Altech stated.
“In Altech’s view the law obliges ICASA to convert the VANS licence to an I–ECNS. Altech does not believe that ICASA can cherry pick the number of I-ECNS licences that it awards to VANS. It believes that these licences should be converted. If successful, the litigation will open the South African market to enhance competition,” the company said.

The basics

On 3 September 2004 the minister of communications, Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, published various determinations as per the Telecommunications Act. One of these determinations was that “VANS may self-provide facilities from 1 February 2005”.
ICASA, after holding workshops and calling for industry input, released an official statement that “VANS may self-provide facilities from 1 February 2005. Self-provision contemplates the procurement of telecommunication facilities by a VANS licensee from any telecommunication facility supplier and to use them under and in accordance with its licence to provide telecommunication services.”

In an 11th hour statement from the minister at the end of January 2005 she clarified her determination, saying that “the issue of self-provisioning was issued in the government's policy determinations only in relation to mobile cellular operators in terms of fixed links, to give full meaning to the intention to reduce the costs of telecommunication services in SA. It is the intention that value-added network operators may obtain facilities from any licensed operator as specified in the determinations."

According to Altech a media statement is not binding and this statement is further in conflict with Icasa’s internal documents stating that VANs can self provide.

The Department of Communications and ICASA fought back, saying that value-added network service licensees were never given the right to provide their own networks.
Matsepe-Casaburri's lawyers described the minister’s wording in her 2004 ministerial directive as "unfortunate", saying that it was never her intention to follow a ‘big bang’ approach to the liberalisation of the telecoms market. Rather, it had consistently followed a ‘managed liberalisation’ approach, of gradually freeing up the market.

The ruling

The court ruled in favour of Altech Autopage, which means that any VANS license holder effectively had the right to self provide since 2005.

This in turn means that all VANS license holders should automatically qualify for an Individual ECNS license under the new Electronic Communications Act (ECA) since no license holder under the old system should lose any rights under the new act.

This means that all current VANS license holders will have the same license under the new ECA as Telkom, Neotel, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, iBurst and Sentech.

If all VANS licensees do indeed receive Individual ECNS licenses it will mean an immediate leveling of the telecoms playing field regarding rights to provision networks and telecoms services. The focus will then most likely move towards spectrum allocation – the main differentiator regarding the ability to roll out a wireless network cost effectively.

Full judgment available here: http://www.ellipsis.co.za/?p=239

ICASA statement here: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133370

VANS self-provisioning discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133315)

[alaink]

This is some rather exciting news, but ICASA have made it clear that there ARE regulations to be followed:

------------
Competition, lower prices coming
Aug 29 2008 6:46PM
Belinda Anderson
Johannesburg - Telecommunications industry players popped open the champagne on Friday afternoon in the wake of Justice Davis' ruling that operators could provide their own networks.

Those with the financial means to do so are already planning to roll out their own networks to bypass the incumbent operators.

This should mean increased competition and lower telecoms prices.

Altech CEO Craig Venter said many - this journalist included, it must be conceded - had accused the company of potentially delaying the deregulation process, but it was pleased that it had the backbone to stand up and challenge a flawed process: "In hindsight, it actually sped things up... The liberalisation process has been substantially sped up with today's ruling."

He says that Altech, as a listed entity and a player in the industry, had believed the entire industry was being compromised by the lack of clarity: "We're not necessarily going to build a national network, but at least the process is now clear and transparent."

Few believed that Justice Davis would deliver his verdict so quickly, but he did so in just four weeks.

Icasa and the minister of communications have yet to decide whether or not they will appeal the judgement.

Icasa released a statement saying it would study the contents of the judgment and "chart the way forward". The minister, meanwhile, was in a meeting this afternoon, and her spokesperson Joe Makafola said he would revert with a response as soon as she became available to do so.

Asked whether Altech had been surprised with the verdict, which went entirely in its favour - including paying its legal costs - Venter said it had been "quietly confident", although the outcome of a judicial process was never certain.

Venter said the landscape had previously been unpredictable, but now that there was clarity, the Altech board would decide on how to proceed.

It would consider all its options in this regard, including rolling out a wireless network (subject to obtaining the necessary spectrum), a fixed-line network, as well as consolidating or partnering with other players. "There is only a handful of players that would have the financial wherewithal to build a national network. Altech would be one of those," Venter said.

Spectrum for wireless

In order to qualify for WiMax spectrum - a high-speed wireless broadband technology - Icasa has said it requires companies to be 51% black-owned.

Venter says the industry is taking this up with Icasa, after it raised the bar from 30% ownership: "We don't believe the 51% is a fait accompli." He said Altech had committed to a 30% BEE stake in Autopage (the subsidiary that holds the telecoms licence) and was in the process of working on this transaction.

Vox Telecom is one of the alternate telcommunications operators that wasn't initially pleased with Altech's decision to take the matter to court, but now concedes that it has done the entire industry a favour.

Chairperson Tony van Marken said the ruling "levelled the playing field".

Van Marken says with its BEE credentials, Vox would be well placed to potentially qualify for WiMax spectrum. But, it will also look at some high traffic metropolitan routes and could consider leasing fibre optic capacity "selectively" along those from Dark Fibre Africa, a fibre capacity provider to the operators. He said Vox would study the judgment and decide how and when to proceed.

ECN, another Vans licensee and voice over IP (internet-based networks) operator to corporates, was also surprised, but elated by the ruling.

CEO John Holdsworth says the landscape has been fundamentally changed: "Now its open season," he says.

ECN had never intended to roll out its own network, so the ruling doesn't necessarily impact it directly.

Holdsworth said it may consider renting capacity from a "dark fibre" - which is a privately owned fibre-optic cable operator, instead of one of the incumbents.

Regulations needed

The ruling was also important as it set the trend: "I think Icasa and the DoC will now be more reluctant to oppose attempts to open up the market."

Holdsworth has long said, however, that having a licence under the new legislation is less important than having the right pro-competitive regulations in place.

He says Icasa must now move quickly in this regard. Some of these include non-discriminatory numbering, fixed-line number portability, cost-based interconnection and facilities leasing, carrier pre-selection and local loop unbundling.

The ruling is a blow to the incumbent operators, including Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Neotel, because it means that the market could become more competitive almost overnight.

Speaking on Talk Radio 702's the World at Six programme, Vodacom CEO-designate Pieter Uys said the operator had long anticipated additional competition with the passing of the Electronic Communications Act.

But, with extra competition also came new opportunities and choices for it. This would also help keep Vodacom on its toes, he said: "We are not afraid of competition."

MTN said it would respond by Monday, while the others had yet to respond to emailed requests for comment at the time of publishing. Their responses will be published at a later stage.

---------

http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-24_2385017

[Lydon]

Cell C is finally starting to gain ground on Vodacom and MTN



Cell C, which has always been seen as a laggard in SA’s cellphone industry, is finally starting to gain ground on its bigger, better-funded rivals: in the past year it has clawed away some market share from MTN and Vodacom.

Between June 2007 and June 2008, Cell C grew its subscriber base by 58%, to 5,4m. Analysts say that is good growth in an industry nearing saturation. But CEO Jeffrey Hedberg cautions that the expansion will moderate.

The growth was driven largely by its offer of free on-net calls over weekends (subject to conditions, such as the weekly purchase of at least R10 of airtime).
Revenue rose 17%, or R590m, between June 2007 and June 2008 and operating profit rose 36%. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation came in at R517m.

Cell C does not disclose its net profit. It is likely that debt repayments continue to push the company into the red. Hedberg says Cell C discloses only the numbers over which the management team has influence, as these best indicate its actual performance.

Analysts seem to like what Cell C has achieved under Hedberg, who took the hot seat from Talaat Laham in May 2006. “Cell C’s growth has been quite impressive,” says Fezekile Mashinini, a telecom analyst at research firm BMI-TechKnowledge. “Depending on how it accounts for churn, its growth dwarfs Vodacom’s growth of 1% over the same period.”

Mashinini points out, however, that Vodacom cleared out some of its nonactive Sim cards during the period, which depressed subscriber growth numbers.
He believes Cell C can continue winning market share from its rivals. “The battles it has won recently are just that — battles, not the whole war,” Mashinini says. “However, if it continues to win battles it could pick up another five percentage points in market share.”

Cell C’s prepaid and post paid Arpu — average revenue per user, an important industry measure — have both climbed.

Prepaid revenues surged 52% between the second quarter of 2008 and the same quarter a year ago, with Arpu rising 18% (R40/month to R47/month). Postpaid revenue grew 10%, while Arpu rose 12% (R356/month to R398/month).

There was, however, a big decline in Cell C’s community service telephone (CST) business. Hedberg attributes this to the downturn in the economy — the poor, whom the community phones serve, are being forced to cut their telephony spend, he says. “The CST business is a little troubling.”

More pleasant news for the company is that ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s both recently upgraded Cell C’s long-term debt ratings. The agencies have a more positive view of Cell C’s outlook, in part because of a recent offer by Saudi Oger, the controlling shareholder, to buy back its US dollar and euro high-yield bonds.

Hedberg says Cell C will continue to do things that irk its rivals, chipping away at their market share. This includes a plan to cut prices — something it will be able to do fairly aggressively if the Independent Communications Authority of SA intervenes, as expected, in the wholesale call-termination market.

The authority wants to force down the fees mobile operators charge one another to terminate calls between their networks, something which will benefit Cell C as the smallest operator.

The company also has plans to compete more effectively in wireless broadband. It has been criticised in the past for not having a 3G data network.

“There has been a lot of questioning of our data strategy, so we are looking at it,” Hedberg says.

The company has not decided what to do yet, or what technology to choose — it is considering 3G, WiMax and others — and it may also look to roam at least partially on another operator’s broadband network.

Hedberg says Cell C will provide details of its broadband data strategy before the end of the year.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5018.html

Cell C discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133438)

[Lydon]

SABC 2 has agreed to a deal with Earth Television Network



SABC 2 has agreed to a deal with Earth Television Network – part of the Telcast Media Group from Munich, Germany - to launch live earthTV programmes every day plugging SABC into Earth Television Network’s worldwide media community

From Monday (1 September 2008), SABC 2 will show earthTV’s The World LIVE four times daily, with each 90-second short offering live glimpses of different places on Earth from earthTV’s worldwide network of 80 cameras.
This SABC 2 deal is intended as a new departure for the genre to localize the format for South Africa.

SABC 2 has also licensed a bespoke local version of the format called South Africa LIVE, which will follow the same format and frequency as The World LIVE. South Africa LIVE will feature feeds from new earthTV cameras installed in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Londolozi in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. Further earthTV camera installations are planned for the near future.

The shows, often used by networks as lead-ins to news bulletins, offer a global snapshot of daily life, weather information and event details from all over the planet including Antalya, Venice, Sydney, Manila, Munich, London, Paris and New York. earthTV has been secured by broadcasters and multimedia platforms around the world, including NHK in Japan, France 2, ProSiebenSat.1 Group in Germany, NDTV in India and CCTV in China.

“As the Channel for the Nation we are very pleased to be able to offer our viewers a daily ‘slice of life’ from across the country and the world. South Africans should also be proud that live images from South Africa will be beamed every day around the planet within the earthTV packages”, says Ed Worster – SABC 2 programme manager.

Telcast president and CEO Thomas Hohenacker said that since earthTV content airs in primetime on major terrestrial channels in each market, "it is probably the most widely distributed TV content in the world and has a daily reach of over 2.2 billion people in 60 countries. We are delighted to be working with SABC 2 in this way. Their enthusiasm is allowing us to develop a dynamic new template for earthTV and I am confident that this will be the first of many country and regional versions of earthTV in the future”.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/5032.html

SABC EarthTV discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133407)

[Pule]

^^ good move by SABC 2.

[Lydon]

Very good indeed. I used to watch Earth TV on SABC back in around 2001 I think it was. Was a random little way to pass the time by.

[Lydon]

MTN is up “on the radar screen” of state regulators



MTN chief executive Phuthuma Nhleko quipped, during his results presentation, that the company is up “on the radar screen” of state regulators.

At the firm’s interim results briefing on Thursday, he outlined how revenue was being put under pressure by the various industry regulators across its 21 markets. “We are trying to have constructive engagement with regulators. We can’t be caught off guard,” he said.

The company’s 35% growth rate was a shadow of its 69% jump last year.
In Sudan, the company had to disconnect more than a million subscribers who hadn’t registered personal information.

And in Nigeria, the company’s biggest market, MTN was forced to pay over R213-million in fines for a congested network.

Congestion has also been a problem in Iran (an operation that was launched last year), where subscriber numbers are already nearing South African levels.
The company hopes that it will be able to meet supply constraints through its R30-billion capital expansion programme.

But just R10-million has so far been spent in rolling out networks in markets such as Sudan, Iran, Ghana and South Africa.

With the opening up of the SA industry through Icasa’s licence conversion process, the company’s revenue could come under further pressure from increased competition.
Lindsay McDonald, an ITC analyst at Frost and Sullivan, said MTN’s aggressive expansion would place the company in a good position once worldwide deregulation of the industry brought more competition into its markets.

She said: “MTN hasn’t experienced the massive geographical expansion characterising its last reporting periods, but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s not been active.

“The company has targeted acquisitions that will complement its existing service offering. The deals concerning iTalk Cellular in SA and Verizon Business in various African states are examples of this,” McDonald said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5038.html

MTN discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133597)

[Lydon]

Nigerian meets Telkom CEO on takeover offer




TELKOM CEO Reuben September is understood to have met Nigerian entrepreneur Mike Adenuga Jnr to discuss Adenuga’s bold bid to create a pan-African telecoms giant by acquiring Telkom.

Adenuga has submitted a proposal to take over Telkom so he can merge his cellular operator, Globacom, with Telkom’s 50% stake in Vodacom.

Globacom cannot bid for the Vodacom shares directly, as Vodacom’s other 50%-owner, Vodafone, has the first right of refusal. So it can only access Vodacom by acquiring Telkom outright, although Adenuga’s plan leaves Telkom’s fixed-line operations as a listed entity, with no change in the shareholders.

Globacom would then merge with half of Vodacom, leaving Vodafone holding the other 50%.

On Friday, Telkom was forced to issue a cautionary acknowledging that it had received the offer. Its statement said it “has received a number of inquiries and expressions of interest in respect of one or more components of its business. Telkom has not entered into any discussions in respect of any of these expressions of interest.”

That was on Friday, however, and sources said September and Adenuga had now met. Telkom said it would evaluate any proposal it received to determine if it was in the best interests of shareholders, and if it was capable of being implemented in full.
Telkom is already far down the line in assessing a bid for Vodafone to pay R18,75bn for another 12,5% of Vodacom. It is also assessing a seemingly related bid from Mvelaphanda to buy its fixed-line assets, on condition that it first sheds its stake in Vodacom.

Vodacom CEO-designate Pieter Uys said Telkom had not briefed him on the Globacom offer. Uys is highly familiar with Adenuga and Globacom, however, as Vodacom once made overtures to buy Globacom when it was anxious to enter Nigeria for itself.

“We know Mike very well,” he said. “Once we tried to enter Nigeria by working with him, but we didn’t get to the point where we did detailed due diligence because the price was too high.”

Few financial details are set out in the offer sent last week. But it proposes that the new entity, dubbed Vodaglo, would be listed in Johannesburg with a market valuation of about R140bn. It would be equally owned by Globacom and Telkom.

Uys said the question now was whether Telkom’s shareholders, which include the government with 39%, would be interested in the bid by Nigeria’s second-largest cellular operator. He said the proposed merger would not resolve Vodacom’s problem of having two companies as its joint parents. “I need one boss, which makes it easier to get strategies approved. Having two bosses with different interests is always difficult. I prefer having a majority shareholder in order to drive strategic growth, whichever way it goes.”

Although Globacom would not touch Telkom’s fixed-line business, the two operators could work together in the rest of Africa to offer a bundle of fixed, mobile and internet services. That expansion with a cellular partner is what Telkom has been striving for, but has failed to achieve with Vodacom.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5040.html

Telkom takeover discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133602)

[Lydon]

Google launches gadget specifically for South African users



Google South Africa has announced the first set of SA-specific gadgets. The gadgets can be used to convert South African Rand to any currency, test usersÕ knowledge of South African slang and proverbs, and daily advice and tips on HIV and tuberculosis.
Google gadgets are mini-applications that make information and content available to iGoogle and other services. The easiest way to access these gadgets is to search for them by clicking on Òadd stuffÓ on your iGoogle home page and search for their terms, such as, ÒSouth African slangÓ.

The first four gadgets were all developed by Quirk eMarketing in conjunction with SANTA, LifeLine Southern Africa, Kwela Books and the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society.

The HIV and TB gadget is designed to provide users with detailed information, health tips, and disease-specific facts.

The South African proverb and slang gadgets lets users check their knowledge of South African slang with a quiz game and increase their knowledge of African cultural expression.

The currency converter is a quick way to convert world currencies into South African rands.

Marion Gamel who heads up marketing in South Africa for Google says "the purpose of creating the first four South African gadgets is to motivate South African users, students and companies to create many more South African-specific gadgets. We know the creativity is out there. We aim for iGoogle to become the obvious, useful, personal, and fun base from which a satisfying Internet experience happens for South African users."

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/5041.html

Google Gadget discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133627)

[Lydon]

SomeTelkom ADSL subscribers get unpleasant billing surprise



On 1 February this year Telkom introduced its new promotional packages which includ 10 GB of local bandwidth for each 1 GB of blended (international) bandwidth in the package.

This was welcomed by many TelkomInternet subscribers as it allows them to access their email and locally hosted content after reaching their cap.

The company however warned that it would bill subscribers for local bandwidth usage which exceeds the 10 GB to 40 GB limit, and this has now started to happen.

“If a customer exceeds his or her allocated free local only bandwidth, the customer is charged R25.55 per GB for each additional GB that is consumed,” said Nabintu Petsana, Telkom’s Acting Group Executive for Corporate Communication.

Poor notification

One customer said that he received an unexpected bill of R 2432.00 for extra local bandwidth usage without receiving a warning about the over usage for three months.
According to the rather agitated Telkom subscriber, the first he heard about this additional bill was when Telkom called him to tell him that he was in arrears.
Telkom was asked why it takes such a long time to bill for additional usage – and queried about delays in informing customers about these charges – but Petsana said that it is difficult to say why this customer was only billed a few months after the actual bandwidth usage as they don’t have all the facts.

There does not currently seem to be a pro-active notification system warning users that they have exceeded their usage limit and can expect to be billed out-of-bundle rates.

Telkom advises customers to either dial 10215 or visit https://secure.telkomsa.net/titracker/ to determine what their free local bandwidth usage is.

“Customers must ensure that their local bandwidth usage is checked on a daily basis. In addition, since Telkom is not allowed to cap customers on local bandwidth, the onus is on customers to ensure that their TelkomInternet accounts are protected against any hacking or abuse,” said Petsana.

Petsana further said that Telkom is in the process of developing a value-add that includes an e-mailed usage notification of local bandwidth usage to customers who wish to subscribe to such a facility.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/ADSL/5039.html

ADSL local usage discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133596)

[Lydon]

Fibre optics to address SA telecoms' massive capacity constraints



With the latest in fixed-line, wireless and satellite communication, SA has the most advanced digital telecommunications network in Africa and is the fourth fastest growing mobile market in the world. But, it is also the most expensive.

Speaking at a recent forum event hosted by the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), Cell C's chief corporate officer, Zeona Motshabi, said revenue per minute is the highest in the world.

A Q4 2006 Merrill Lynch Global Wireless Matrix study found that at US$49, purchasing power parity (PPP) adjusted revenue per minute (RPM) is more than double the world average.

Moreover, mobile termination rates (MTRs) increased by 515% before the introduction of Cell C, said Motshabi, adding that "industry regulator ICASA should not let this happen again". High MTRs limit Cell C's ability to compete on price.
However, licence conversion changes the game. Now that different licensees may offer technology neutral, comprehensive fixed and mobile products and services, competition becomes service-based.

Telkom SA's Steven Hayward said the SA telecommunications industry and authorities are finally moving toward giving customers what they want: reliability; availability; end-to-end solutions and cost effectiveness.

While the regulatory changes help, "prices still need to come down," he noted.
Telkom reduced the price of international bandwidth dramatically in recent years. In 2006, Telkom reduced bandwidth costs by between 9,3% and 31,8%. In 2007, the average DSL price reduction was 18,2%. This year, Telkom's data product prices decreased on average by 7%.

Hayward said interconnection pricing will also likely reduce to close to cost levels.
Capacity also needs to be increased dramatically, he added. This is where the concept of "self-provisioning" - an industry-enabling and investment encouraging characteristic of 90% of international operators - becomes important.

As part of a planned spend of R7,1bn on increasing network capacity and coverage this year, MTN's self-provisioning strategy is expected to save it more than R9bn over 10 years.

MTN's MD Tim Lowry said, "We are moving away from our reliance on Telkom." Almost 50% to 60% of our down time is related to Telkom issues, he said. Telkom's network, which already serves about 15-million users in SA, only supports 19,5-million active subscribers.

Under its mobile licence, MTN may self-provide the telecommunication facilities used to build its mobile converged telecommunications services, while also leasing out excess capacity on its fixed infrastructure.

The solution? A fibre-optic network, which will cost between R1,2bn and R1,5bn, freeing MTN from Telkom's networks.

The fibre network offers MTN almost infinite capacity and carries far more information at higher speeds over much greater distances, using far less power than copper cables.

MTN has completed a 6km pilot project to roll out a Gauteng metro fibre ring, which will total 180km and cost R150 million. In addition, it plans a 5 000km national fibre optic backbone.

Telkom, which has traditionally used copper networks, has also turned to fibre as a result of cable theft.

"Fibre networks offer more bandwidth capacity than any other technology by far," said Neotel's chief technology officer Angus Hey. As SA's second national operator, Neotel is licensed to provide the entire range of telecommunications services, but not full mobility.

Vodacom's move into the fixed-line market means it is competing directly against shareholder Telkom. Vodacom Business' Ermano Quartero said the rationale is twofold: to ensure there is enough infrastructure for the transmission of data, as available spectrum is limited, and because it could ill afford depending on one provider.

Despite wider access to broadband, ADSL and 3G access, bandwidth remains limited and expensive. This hampers economic growth.

While the SA government is committed to increasing accessibility and reducing costs, Motshabi noted that ICASA is under-resourced and less independent than its more effective global counterparts.

Moreover, the government's relationship with ICASA conflicts with its telecommunications enterprise ownership. It has clout over telecoms regulation, while also being the largest shareholder in state-owned broadband provider Sentech, and broadband infrastructure company Infaco.

Motshabi said SA's telecommunications industry needs:

* A government strategy for the information, communications and technology (ICT) sector, including a policy on government ownership and the efficient use of current licences
* A financially and structurally independent regulator, which cooperates closely with the competition authority.
A level playing field:
Standard licences
* Clear regulations
* A dispute resolution process
"Cable, spectrum and space are scarce industry resources. ICASA must therefore be prudent in allocating licenses," said Quartero.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/4961.html

Fibre discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133625)

[Lydon]

How Seacom will change SA's world



June 17 2009 may be a watershed date in South Africa's, and even Africa's, economic history. That is the date set for the Seacom cable to become operational.

The significance of the cable has already been outlined by a number of people, but it bears repeating. Currently, South Africans are dependent on the SAT3 cable for broadband connection to the rest of the world. This single cable is insufficient for the country's needs, and is currently controlled by a consortium that has used its monopolistic position to keep prices high.

East Africa has no cable at all at the moment. Users there are entirely reliant on satellite, which is slow and expensive.

The Seacom cable offers the opportunity to change all that. It will link South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya to India and Europe at greater speeds and at significantly lower costs.

Seacom has already outlined what sort of pricing it will offer, and the savings to South African users are expected to be between 70% and 80%. Seacom will be offering a 9.6 Gigabit per second (Gbps) wholesale connection at R267 per Mbps (megabit per second) per month. The SAT-3 cable currently costs between R3 500 and R11 000 per Mbps per month.

It's important to understand that Seacom's impact will go far beyond allowing us to surf the web at high speed. The current lack of bandwidth in the country has stifled innovation and prevents companies from taking advantage of business opportunities.
For instance, local online digital media companies are unable to keep up with the advances of their foreign counterparts, as they are simply unable to create applications that require a large amount of bandwidth. Their competitors in places like the US are however free to innovate as bandwidth is not a limiting factor.

Frost & Sullivan has also found that many local online marketing and advertising companies are currently exporting more services than they sell locally. This is not only because the client base in international markets is bigger, but because companies there have an understanding of the capacity of the internet and the ways in which tools such as search engine optimisation can promote their online presence. South African businesses are yet to fully utilise the marketing power of the internet because bandwidth has limited the scope of what they can do.

The lack of bandwidth in South Africa has also inhibited the ability of local ICT companies to deliver services and support to foreign clients. This particularly true in the software development and online digital media sectors, as companies are unable to meet the needs of clients working in high bandwidth environments. South African companies have shown an incredible ability to innovate and offer niche solutions to sectors such as retail and banking, but they have been restrained by their bandwidth limitations.

It is fair to say that the more bandwidth people have, the more they need. South Africans are not realising the full benefits of Web 2.0 developments because they don't have the bandwidth to engage fully in activities like file sharing and video streaming. Once we start using those sorts of platforms, our demands for more bandwidth will increase exponentially as we look to do more and engage more with the possibilities of the medium. The business opportunities for companies in this sector are potentially enormous.

Bringing down the cost of bandwidth will also decrease the cost of technologies such as unified communications. This will allow South Africans to engage in the sharing of information in more convenient ways and allow new business opportunities for companies offering voice, data and video services.

While this is all promising, there is one caveat. Seacom alone is not a magic wand that will suddenly transport Africa across the digital divide. For users to be able to take advantage of the cable, the infrastructure to connect them to the cable has to be secure and in place. There has already been a significant amount of activity from companies like MTN and Vodacom to ensure that they have the infrastructure to take advantage of the increased demand Seacom will create. However, much still needs to be done to ensure that the benefits reach all South Africans, particularly those in rural areas where infrastructure is poor to non-existent.

At a recent cabinet meeting, government recognised that expediting the roll-out of wireless broadband infrastructure had become imperative. Wireless broadband is essential for improving access for facilities in rural areas such as schools, clinics and courts.

Some analysts have pointed out that the economics of the digital age are not those of scarcity. Bandwidth is a resource that is potentially so abundant that it may, before long, become free. Until now, South Africans haven't been able to think in anything near those terms, but Seacom is potentially the start of a new wave of thinking in Africa, in which we can start to see things in terms of abundance, not the scarcity that has plagued the continent for so long. It's time we no longer thought in terms of our limitations, but rather our possibilities. And in the digital age, those are endless.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5002.html

SEACOM discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133657)

[p2bsa]

SABC 2 has agreed to a deal with Earth Television Network


SABC 2 has agreed to a deal with Earth Television Network – part of the Telcast Media Group from Munich, Germany - to launch live earthTV programmes every day plugging SABC into Earth Television Network’s worldwide media community

From Monday (1 September 2008), SABC 2 will show earthTV’s The World LIVE four times daily, with each 90-second short offering live glimpses of different places on Earth from earthTV’s worldwide network of 80 cameras.
This SABC 2 deal is intended as a new departure for the genre to localize the format for South Africa.

SABC 2 has also licensed a bespoke local version of the format called South Africa LIVE, which will follow the same format and frequency as The World LIVE. South Africa LIVE will feature feeds from new earthTV cameras installed in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Londolozi in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. Further earthTV camera installations are planned for the near future.

The shows, often used by networks as lead-ins to news bulletins, offer a global snapshot of daily life, weather information and event details from all over the planet including Antalya, Venice, Sydney, Manila, Munich, London, Paris and New York. earthTV has been secured by broadcasters and multimedia platforms around the world, including NHK in Japan, France 2, ProSiebenSat.1 Group in Germany, NDTV in India and CCTV in China.

“As the Channel for the Nation we are very pleased to be able to offer our viewers a daily ‘slice of life’ from across the country and the world. South Africans should also be proud that live images from South Africa will be beamed every day around the planet within the earthTV packages”, says Ed Worster – SABC 2 programme manager.

Telcast president and CEO Thomas Hohenacker said that since earthTV content airs in primetime on major terrestrial channels in each market, "it is probably the most widely distributed TV content in the world and has a daily reach of over 2.2 billion people in 60 countries. We are delighted to be working with SABC 2 in this way. Their enthusiasm is allowing us to develop a dynamic new template for earthTV and I am confident that this will be the first of many country and regional versions of earthTV in the future”.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/5032.html

SABC EarthTV discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133407)

^^
Durban has secured a broadcast coup in this project...

What this article does not say is that Durban is currently the only SA city on earthTV’s The World LIVE network...
the partnership with SABC 2 will see a local version... featuring major SA cities and other hotspots...
but Durban is the only SA city currently featured on the international broadcast network...

I read all this in the Daily News yesterday - but the article is not featured on the net so will post after I use my subscription to access the story...

[Lydon]

Cape Town used to be featured if my memory serves me correct. I can remember watching blokes in the V&A.

[Lydon]

MultiChoice invests in a Gated-Community Telecomms Provider



MultiChoice South Africa has acquired a controlling stake in Smart Village to broaden its core DSTV offerings using next generation networks.

Smart Village is a Multi-play Service provider offering a converged multimedia service to multi-dwelling units, retail and gated communities.

Established in 2004, Smart Village provides a converged services solution to homes and businesses in gated communities, over fibre optic networks, offering:
--Voice - high quality voice services, including VoIP and least cost routing
--Video - Video–On -Demand, IPTV and centralised TV distribution
--Broadband Internet access and
--Integrated control systems such as security, electricity and water metering, etc

Nolo Letele, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa says “the investment in Smart Village will enable us to create the first true multi-play operator in South Africa, which will offer exciting bundled services to consumers in estates. Our DStv channels and Video – On - Demand content will add significant value to the Smart Village offering.”

Smart Village is a leader in its field and the only operator currently able to provide a truly converged services solution via a single access point to gated communities and mixed-use estates. These estates are becoming increasingly popular as South Africans seek secure residential and business premises.

Smart Village currently operates in mixed-use estates in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, with over a thousand homes and businesses already connected. The company has already secured a significant portion of the gated community market and expects accelerated growth following the strategic investment by MultiChoice.
Smart Village’s business model requires home and business-owners to pay a basic service fee for converged services, as well as a usage fee for services such as DStv via IPTV, Video On Demand and Voice over IP.

It also offers the option of an estate “Intranet” where residents can book golf or other sports facilities, view estate information and events, order fast food and make use of virtual ISP services.

Smart Village offers a unique turnkey solution for developers enabling them to deal with a single supplier for media, telecommunications, data and security. The company also offers all the converged services and support that end users will require on a daily basis, tailored for business and residential customers.

As a result of the common platform and economies of scale achieved, bundled services can be offered at a discount compared to what is currently available in the market.

Chris van der Walt, Managing Director of Smart Village, said that the opportunities provided by the new EC Act together with the capital investment made available by Multichoidce, would enable the company to grow its service offering.

“Our open access model with a single backbone and platform enables developers to offer each resident or business an integrated media, telecommunications and security solution. Our partnership with the Multichoice Group brings with it a number of synergies that will enable Smart Village to reach its full potential. We are very optimistic about the future opportunities that this investment brings.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5045.html

Multichoice DSTV discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133681)

[Lydon]

Buying Gateway Communications turns the cellphone firm into a pan-African player



Vodacom has finally made its big move into Africa—not with a cellphone deal, but with one in integrated telecommunications technology.

It will pay more then R5.3-billion for a pan-African communications services company in a deal that will immediately fast-forward its international expansion and diversify its business.

Vodacom’s CEO-designate Pieter Uys says the deal is part of Vodacom’s plan to execute its growth strategy.

“We have to do things now so that when things come to a plateau in the South African business in 18 to 24 months’ time, the strategy to grow geographically and horizontally will be well under way.”

The establishment of Vodacom Business — which is involved in Internet and network provision — earlier this year has been part of that strategy, as has the recent acquisition of 51% of Storage Technology Services, a company involved in data storage and security services.

But its geographical expansion has been somewhat dormant.

Vodacom has cellphone operations in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Mozambique; its attempts to enter Nigeria have so far been unsuccessful. It has not announced any new expansion into Africa for years and is often unfavourably compared with MTN, which has been growing aggressively in terms of its geographic roll-out into Africa and the Middle East.

This deal, however, finally positions Vodacom as a pan-African player.

It has bought the carrier services and business network solutions businesses of the privately owned Gateway Telecommunications SA, paying 675-million for the business and 25-million in relation to a bond raised by Gateway.

Gateway Communications is the largest independent provider of interconnection services via satellite and terrestrial network infrastructure for African and international telecommunications companies. It has voice and connectivity services available to customers in more than 40 African countries.

It has offices in 17 countries and its African network already connects more than 583million people across the continent.

Sales were 257-million in the year to December.

It is majority black-owned, and the Industrial Development Corporation also has a stake.

For Gateway, the deal would enable it to increase resources, efficiency and product range, CEO Peter Gbedemah said in a statement.

Uys says the acquisition serves to broaden Vodacom’s international presence in key markets in other African countries, and especially in Nigeria.

Multinational customers and international telecoms providers who are looking for African connectivity will now be able to get it through Vodacom.

The deal complements Vodacom’s business services strategy in SA and will enable it to roll out its services to other African countries.

It also gives Vodacom access to Gateway’s blue-chip customer base, which includes telecoms companies, and companies in the oil, banking, gas and retail sectors.
Uys says Vodacom has been looking for cellphone technology opportunities, but also at opportunities “in the converged IT space”.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5037.html

Vodacom into Africa discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133744)

[Lydon]

Telkom strengthens its Board with two new independent non-executive directors



Yesterday Telkom announced the appointment of David Barber, the former global chief financial officer of AngloCoal and CFO of Anglo American SA, as an independent non-executive director and member of its audit and risk management committee with immediate effect. This follows the announcement that Telkom had appointed Peter Joubert, the former chairman of Impala Platinum and Afrox, as a non executive director and member of the audit and risk management committee with effect from 12 August 2008.

Barber (56) has extensive experience heading up the finance functions of both South African and multinational organisations. He recently retired as the global CFO of AngloCoal, a division of Anglo American plc. Prior to this he was CFO of Anglo American in SA. Barber is currently a member of the audit committee of Murray & Roberts and has served as a non-executive director and member of the audit committee for several companies including Anglo Platinum, Highveld Steel and BJM Holdings. His career has also included positions within Anglovaal, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Fedsure and SA Breweries.

Joubert (75) has an equally impressive resume. He spent some 30 years with African Oxygen (Afrox), where his career spanned various positions including 20 years as CEO and chairman. He was seconded to British Oxygen as an executive director and has been on the boards of numerous leading companies, often as chairman. He is currently the chairman of BDFM Publishers and Sandvik Pty Ltd and a non executive director of Transnet, SA Airways and SA Brain Research Institute.

The appointments come after the recent special general meeting, where Telkom shareholders overwhelmingly approved resolutions to amend the articles of association, thus empowering the company to fill vacancies without having to wait for the next annual general meeting. These amendments, which also paved the way for the appointment of Telkom’s CFO (to be appointed) to the board of directors, are in line with JSE listing requirements and good corporate governance practices. They have resulted in the maximum number of Telkom board members increasing from 11 to 12.

Other board members are executive director Reuben September (CEO); independent directors Braham du Plessis and Sisubiso Luthuli; B-class shareholder representative Brian Molefe; and A-class shareholder representatives Ekwow Spio-Garbrah (international), Dr Victor Lawrence (international), Reitumetse Jackie Huntley and Keitumetse Matthews.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5059.html

Telkom board discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133773)

[Lydon]

2010 might not come to a TV near you



A JOHANNESBURG judge has warned that you might not get to watch the 2010 soccer Word Cup on TV if the SABC’s broadcasting deal is not wrapped up.

Judge Frans Malan said the broadcaster might have to re-tender for the multimillion-rand rights because a company that lost a tender has taken the public broadcaster to court.

Black-owned Digital Horizon contends that a R383-million deal between the SABC and Sony SA for the latter to provide services relating to the broadcasting of the soccer showcase is flawed and tainted with irregularities.

The company contends that SonySA is 100percent foreign owned and not BEE-compliant.

It wants the Johannesburg High Court to review the deal and order the SABC board to reverse its decision and invite new tenders.

But Judge Malan said this would take time.

“I understand the urgency of the matter, but I need time to look into it … the court battle could drag [on] for months.”

A lawyer for Digital Horizon, Richard Solomon, said the SABC board had awarded the tender despite warnings that Sony SA’s bid had serious shortcomings.

“Sony SA’s design did not display any technological advances . The SABC cannot afford this. The SABC is currently experiencing performance-related problems with Sony outside-broadcast vans,” he said .

Peter van Blerk, representing the SABC, asked that the court dismiss Digital Horizon’s application on the grounds that it did not provide evidence that suggested that it had suffered any prejudice.

Judgment was reserved.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5060.html

SABC discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133791)

[Lydon]

SA.info is top of the online hit parade


SA’s national internet portal, SouthAfrica.info, receives almost 30-million hits a month and compares favourably with the country’s top commercial web sites, the statutory International Marketing Council (IMC) says in its latest annual report.

The IMC, which has a wide array of prominent South Africans on its board of trustees, is tasked with promoting SA at home and abroad. It describes itself as the custodian of “Brand SA”.

The report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, says Brand SA is valued at R516,6bn.

Chairwoman Wendy Luhabe and acting chief executive Moeketsi Mosola reported that the national web portal continued “its strong upward growth path” in the 2007-08 financial year compared with 2006-07. The monthly page impressions grew by 25% to 3,1-million, the unique users of the website by 21% to 300000 and hits on the web site by 21% to 27,8-million.

“For a noncommercial, public information website, this kind of traffic is extraordinary,” the report said.

The Online Publishers’ Association, which represents SA’s 28 largest websites, said in its December 2007 quarterly readership figures survey that it would have placed SAinfo in 16th place ahead of commercial giants such as “Ananzi.co.za, easyinfo.co.za, SABCnews.com, businessday.co.za and yellowpages.co.za”.

The annual report said analysis of SAinfo’s traffic statistics showed that half of its audience was from abroad, with the US, UK, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, France, Brazil and India leading the pack.

“Underlying SAinfo’s readership growth is the site’s phenomenal performance on internet search engines. It is when one looks at SAinfo’s search result placements — a key indicator of website success — that one appreciates the extent to which the portal has established itself as SA’s leading online country information resource.”

Luhabe said in her report that the 2010 Soccer World Cup presented SA with an opportunity to showcase the country in its best light and to demonstrate the nation’s technological and organisational prowess.

Luhabe paid tribute to former IMC chief executive Yvonne Johnston for her passion in the IMC’s early years. Johnston retired after six years at the helm.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/5076.html

SA.info discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133896)

[Lydon]

Cellular communications help build intelligent traffic solutions for Gauteng


Johannesburg residents should benefit from reduced road congestion as a legacy of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, with local companies Metacom and Sport and Traffic Technologies partnering to provide intelligent traffic control systems for the city.

The city is undertaking an initiative to upgrade traffic signals, with real-time information on traffic conditions and the status of important intersections being fed to a central control centre.

This will improve traffic management and, in future, enable the planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system to get priority. Users will also have access to accurate, constantly updated information on arrival and travel times.

A similar communications and signage system is already in operation on the Ben Schoeman highway, giving travellers between Johannesburg and Pretoria accurate information on traffic conditions.

Metacom, a Cape Town-based ICT company specialising in cellular communication technologies, will provide the communications infrastructure and services to support the network of electronic signboards supplied by Sport and Traffic Technologies.

“The system relies on fast, reliable communication between the control centre and remote electronic signboards,” says Metacom’s chief technology officer Jako Winter.

“We’re supplying a comprehensive solution, using our own Virtual Private Network (VPN) built on the existing infrastructure of the cellular networks. Our communication devices all have dual SIM cards so they can instantly switch over if any of the networks goes down. It’s a tried and tested solution with thousands of devices in the field already.”

“Traditional communication solutions mean digging up roads to lay cables and are very expensive,” adds Metacom MD Rean van Niekerk.

“Using cellular technology means more cost-effective communication without compromising reliability. It also means than we can remotely monitor all our devices in the field and maintain them in the rare event that there’s a problem, without needing to send a technician to the site.”

SATT MD Frank Mac Beath says cellular communication is extremely effective both as a first line solution and as backup to other communication technologies.

“There is a huge problem with cable theft and it can take weeks to fix, so we always use cellular communication as a backup to fibre,” says Mac Beath.

“It’s easy to roll out, reliable, very low-maintenance and doesn’t suffer from the noise issues we are starting to see with Wi-Fi.”

Mac Beath says this reliability has been proven in other joint projects between Metacom and SATT, including signage for the Cape Town International Convention Centre and the Chapman’s Peak scenic drive as well as the Ben Schoeman highway.

“It’s a really solid, industrial product. I’ve had some units out in the field for six or seven years and none have failed yet, even though the traffic environment in particular is incredibly corrosive.”

Images of existing projects in operation are available at http://www.satt.co.za/gallery.html

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5083.html

Traffic control discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133966)

[Lydon]

Neotel has described as a "coup" the appointment of Icasa councillor Tracy Cohen


NEW FIXED-LINE OPERATOR Neotel has described as a "coup" the appointment of highly respected former telecommunications regulator Icasa councillor Tracy Cohen as its new executive head for regulatory affairs from September. Fin24.com broke the news recently and Neotel followed that with an announcement a few days later.

There had been considerable speculation as to where Cohen would end up after her four-year term of office at Icasa expired (she chose not to offer herself for re-election). At Icasa she'd been responsible for the markets and competition division, along with fellow councillor Robert Nkuna. A key part of that portfolio was developing detailed market definitions to determine which players were dominant and assessing the effectiveness of competition in those markets.

Cohen had often been spoken of by various industry players as one of the regulator's key resources because of her vast knowledge of regulatory matters and penchant for getting things done (bureaucracy permitting). She also established a reputation for fighting against monopolies and thus, perhaps, was most popular among emerging operators - although the incumbents all respected and possibly even feared her. So it seemed unlikely that Cohen would have joined one of the incumbent operators.

Cohen says she received numerous approaches and a few firm offers, some from players in the telecoms industry and others on its fringes. But, perhaps not surprisingly, none of the incumbents had approached her seriously.

Asked what had tipped the scales towards Neotel in her decision, Cohen says one of Icasa's objectives was to increase competition and ease market access. "Joining a new entrant at this time, one with no market share but great promise, would be an extension of that work. Generally, though from different perspectives, the aspirations of new entrants and the regulator are aligned, at least for the short to medium term. Neotel is particularly exciting at this early stage of its operations and this is an opportunity to be part of a company that hopes to change market dynamics," says Cohen.

Neotel executive head for external affairs, Wandile Zote, who joined in June to fill the gap after Fani Zulu returned to Eskom, says Cohen brought a "wealth of experience" to the company regarding regulatory matters, which would be invaluable. "As a young company we need all the experience we can get."

The appointment of someone of her calibre demonstrated the importance Neotel placed on regulatory matters, says Zote. Cohen will report directly to Neotel MD Ajay Pandey.

Prior to her appointment at Icasa Cohen read for a doctoral degree in law at the University of Toronto. Her degree focused on telecoms regulation and international trade, with SA as a case study. Before that she lectured or held research posts at Wits, Columbia University, the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics.

Cohen has also undertaken various regulatory projects for organisations, including the International Telecommunication Union and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5051.html

Neotel regulatory discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133884)

[Lydon]

History has been made: Icasa has finally converted telecoms licences


HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE: telecommunications regulator Icasa has finally converted the licences of the incumbent telecoms operators and service providers, effectively breathing life into the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) for the first time.

Some value-added network services (Vans) licensees had feared Icasa wouldn't meet its self-imposed August deadline to issue them with their new licences, but the regulator confirmed late last week the "ink was just drying" on their new licences and they would be formally issued over the next few days.

The incumbent operators will be known as Electronic Communication Network Service (ECNS) licensees, while the Vans automatically become the Electronic Communication Service (ECS) licensees. Those countrywide in scope will have "individual" ECNS or ECS licences, while those more local in nature will be "class" licensees.

ECN CEO John Holdsworth described it as a "seminal, watershed" moment in SA's telecoms landscape. Holdsworth has been very critical of the pace of liberalisation and has long said self-provision, while important, isn't the panacea required to bring prices down. He says it's now even more critical that Icasa puts new pro-competitive regulations in place to free any restrictions that still apply. "Without regulations the licences are effectively worthless."

Some of those include non-discriminatory numbering, fixed-line number portability, cost-based interconnection and facilities leasing, carrier pre-selection and local loop unbundling.

The gap in the licensing-conversion process still lies in those Vans that do want to self-provide their infrastructure (potentially new i-ECNS licensees). They're still waiting for the outcome of a court battle between Altech Autopage and the authorities challenging the right to self-provide.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5047.html

ICASA and ECA discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133883)

[Lydon]

The wait is finally over, it's time to test the offerings


For some time there has been a joke going around in telecom circles of the "rarely spotted second network operator".

Such has been Neotel's silence since it was awarded its licence in late 2005 that it was almost forgotten by the public. In fact the only sign that Neotel was active was the digging up of the roads where fibre was being laid.

The lack of fan fare with which Neotel has gone about setting up its network is in contrast to the amount of expectations put on it when its licence was granted. There were hopes that it would rapidly install a network and become a competitor to the incumbent fixed-line operator, Telkom.

Instead the group made no real promises on pricing and said it would be some time before it became a real rival to the incumbent operator.

"I underestimated the expectations people have of Neotel," says its MD Ajay Pandey. In those early days he was constantly being questioned about when it would start offering services.

Pandey says the strategy of keeping a low profile has been a deliberate one. He says the last thing the group wanted was to overpromise and underdeliver and have consumers disappointed with the group's service.

Pandey points out that given its background - Neotel is a start up company and it is the first foreign greenfield project of its parent company, India's Tata Communications of India - it should be understandable why Neotel has been so cautious.

Because it has taken so long for Neotel to be set up - the Telecommunications Amendment Act of 2001 provided for a new fixed-line operator - it is understandable why so much was expected of the group. Back then state-owned enterprises Transnet and Eskom, were identified in the Amendment Act as shareholders in the new second network operator.

Soon after the legislation was enacted a team of experts in Transtel - the telecom division of Transnet - and Eskom Telecommunications began working on a joint national network. At the time, Transnet and Eskom each held 15% in the group, with shareholding set aside for potential future shareholders in the new company.

This early work gave Neotel the framework for its national network along the country's railways and power lines.

In 2002 a public bidding process led to Nexus Connexion, a broad-based empowerment consortium winning a 19% stake. This was followed by CommuniTel and Two Consortium each being awarded 12,5% holdings in the group.

In January 2005, Tata Africa made a binding offer on behalf of Tata Communications to take a 26% holding in what was then just called the second network operator.

The entry of Tata marked an important step for the Indian-based company, confirming it as a serious player in the SA economy. Besides its involvement in telecoms, it has started selling cars locally and is looking at building a R650m ferrochrome smelter in Richards Bay.

The confidence Tata has in SA is shown in a proposal to increase its holding in Neotel from 26% to 56% and to take over Transnet's and Eskom's respective 15% each in the group (the deal is not finalised yet).

It has clearly been a long road for Neotel but getting Pandey to head the fledgling business is a strong sign that Tata Communications sees Neotel as a priority investment.

The mechanical engineer is a heavyweight in the company. Prior to heading Neotel he was president of Tata Teleservices, president of Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit and CEO of Tata Internet Services. He is also a published author, an alumnus of London Business School, a fellow of the Telecommunications Executive Management Institute of Canada and is currently doing his PhD on leadership styles.

Pandey is half apologetic about his company disrupting the lives of many South Africans by digging up the country's roads. He points out that, like the building of the rapid rail train network in Gauteng, it is a sign of progress. "Sometimes you have to go through pain to gain. People will change their minds when they see it making a difference in their lives," he says.

This year Pandey's hard work has finally paid off and he has begun to lead Neotel into a new growth phase. The group has started providing its first services directly to the public in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni.

But Neotel is not just offering a telephone voice connection; it is also providing Internet access and SMSes with the same package. The group is able to offer this because it is building what it calls a "next generation network". This means it is not designed for voice only but for data - of which voice is just another offering. "The entire network is Internet Protocol (IP) ready," says Pandey. This means it can easily deal with voice, data (Internet) and video over it.

As the network is IP-based, it does not matter how it connects to the final consumer. Even if consumers choose to connect via CDMA (a mobile phone-based technology), WiMax (high-speed wireless broadband) and fibre, they will still be connecting over a single network, not three different ones. "You will never hear that our copper cables have been stolen," quips Pandey.

Besides being free of copper, an IP-based network means there are few exchanges, which reduces cost and gives it more flexibility.

So, is Neotel trying to take on Telkom and mobile players Vodacom, MTN and Cell C? Pandey says Telkom expects it to take 15% of its business over the next five years. "We will be happy if we reach that particular milestone," he says.

However, the group is not going into the mobile space. It may be using mobile phone-based technology but it does not have mobile phone licences.

One area that it is looking at moving into is IT-managed services. This is the managing of another company's IT services in the same way that IT groups Business Connexion and Dimension Data already do.

Pandey says telecom companies can either evolve into media companies like Telkom has with Telkom Media or move into managed services, but he is keener on moving into the latter. "We are willing to play a role there," Pandey says.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5066.html

Neotel discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133924)

[Lydon]

SA translators turn their attention to localising Wordpress blogging software


African localisation organisation Translate.org.za is to translate the popular Wordpress blogging software into local languages.

The organisation has identified Wordpress as one of ten key applications to be translated in 2008 as part of its Decathlon project.

Decathlon project lead, Samuel Murray, says that choosing Wordpress wasn't a difficult decision to make: "The WordPress blogging system is ideally suited as a platform for encouraging speakers of many languages to create content in their own languages. It is also easy to install and customisable," says Murray. In addition to providing blogging software for web site owners, WordPress also provides free hosting of blogs.

Organised by Translate.org.za and funded by the Open Society Institute, Decathlon is a project to contribute to ten key localisation projects during 2008.

Murray says that one thing that makes Wordpress an ideal candidate for translation is its excellent documentation which is written and maintained by the volunteer translators themselves.

"Normally, Decathlon would create guides for translators on the Translate.org.za wiki pages, but we are fortunate that the WordPress organisation already has extensive help files for translators and other developers."

WordPress also shows its commitment to translators by providing blogs where visitors can download language packs in their languages, says Murray.

The Decathlon project is not formally affiliated or associated with WordPress but, according to Murray that is the beauty of open source software translation. "Organisations such as ours can freely use open source software as catalysts for creating language communities," he says.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Software/5077.html

Wordpress discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133926)

[Lydon]

Union challenges Vodacom over non-white shares


Trade union Solidarity on Tuesday challenged cellphone giant Vodacom to refuse applications from poor white South Africans wanting to buy shares meant for the black public.

"It is easy to take political decisions, but it is simply not right to say to poor whites living in leaking shacks with children.... that they may not buy the Yebo Yethu discounted shares, on the grounds of race," said union spokesman Dirk Hermann.

This after the union conducted visits to white informal settlements. It said it had conducted the visits in order to" break the silence about white poverty".

"On which moral grounds can Vodacom deprive these poor from empowerment, but rich black millionaires can again be empowered by this transaction?" asked Hermann.

However the company said its BEE transactions reflected a "commercial imperative".

"Vodacom's broad based BEE transaction reflects a commercial imperative. Vodacom sells products to business, government and groups which require the presentation of acceptable BEE credentials," said company spokeswoman Dot Field.

Vodacom's economic empowerment transactions were meant to comply with the requirements set out in the Department of Trade and Industry's BBBEE codes of good practice.

"These requirements extended to the Yebo Yethu public offer and we therefore can only invite black people and black group as defined by these codes to participate," said Field.

Black South Africans had until September 11 to purchase the shares.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5080.html

Vodacom BEE shares discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133967)

[Lydon]

Neotel's SAT-3/SAFE access brings an end to Telkom's stranglehold on SA telecoms


When Neotel announced in April that it had finally got direct access to the landing stations of the SAT-3/SAFE undersea cable - which connects the continent's telephone systems to the world - at the Melkbosstrand in the Western Cape and Mtunzini in KwaZulu Natal the statement went almost unnoticed.

That announcement, though, brought to an end the monopoly that its fixed-line rival, Telkom - which controls the site - had always had over SA's telecommunications with the outside world.

Access to the landing site means that Neotel has truly become independent from any other operator. It can now carry traffic from Johannesburg to London on its own network, says chief technology officer Angus Hay. "There is no dependence on Telkom's network, we are not selling a Telkom service," he says with a smile.

Neotel now has its own equipment at the Melkbosstrand and Mtunzini landing stations.

"For the first time, users of international leased line telecommunications services out of SA have a real choice of carrier, rather than just of re-seller. This will enable them to switch to their preferred provider, or simply to implement redundancy to reduce their business risk," Hay says.

He refuses to divulge the details of deals between Telkom and Neotel regarding the landing sites but stresses that it gives his group a steady base to compete with Telkom.

"We get fairly good pricing but we need more bandwidth," he says.

Ironically, Neotel's parent company Tata Communications of India is now the largest partner in the consortium owning SAT-3/SAFE. But Hay points out that this gives Neotel little advantage in giving it a bigger say regarding the cable's landing sites. "You can't backdate rights. Tata has more in the consortium but it does not have more rights," Hay says.

Consumers are not only gaining because there is finally competition on a sea cable that was under monopolistic control, but they will also gain from Neotel's involvement in the development of a rival cable, Seacom. This will probably be laid in time for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

Neotel's view on providing access to broadband is significantly different from other players. While other operators see broadband as a scarcity Hay says that unlike other resources that are being used up, bandwidth is a "permanently growing resource" and does not need to be used sparingly.

Bandwidth is not only growing, but its cost is also coming down, Hay says. "Every time a new cable is laid, it is significantly cheaper than the last one."

Neotel is setting a new benchmark when it comes to managing broadband and this can be seen in how it has drawn up agreements when it comes to undersea cables. Neotel says Seacom's prices will be made publicly available and that it is not an exclusive seller of bandwidth - there are no secrets in the deal.

Given the shortage in bandwidth, it is no wonder Hay says "we are happy to get involved in any cable that makes business sense".

Having increased access to international bandwidth is not only good for the SA telecom sector but for the SA economy in general. Hay says a lot has been said about SA not being able to sell itself abroad because of the lack of bandwidth. The inability of global companies to get sufficient bandwidth is the real stumbling block, he says.

Large international companies like Google - which has spoken about putting up a server farm in SA - and Reuters - which has complained about the lack of bandwidth - will not invest in SA if there is not enough bandwidth to service their needs. "For global players to take us seriously they will have to have access to big pipes. Just giving them a plain old telephone is no longer viable," Hay says.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5068.html

Neotel SAT3 access discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134130)

[Lydon]

Google SA probed for abusing its dominance


GLOBAL internet giant Google is being investigated by the Competition Commission for allegedly abusing its dominance by trying to steal a customer away from Cape-based e-marketing company Entelligence.

Entelligence has filed a complaint accusing Google SA of flouting the Competition Act by inducing a customer not to deal with Entelligence but to deal directly with Google instead.

In a statement yesterday, Google said the accusations were without merit. It adhered to “strict professional protocols” for working with agencies and clients in SA and around the world, it said, specifically to create a fair and open business model.

The clash stems from a contract that Entelligence won in June to promote Telkom’s Yellow Pages website. Much of that involves displaying adverts that click through to the Yellow Pages website when users run a Google search for particular goods or services.

Entelligence pays Google 60c each time a user clicks on an advert, and recovers that fee from Yellow Pages as part of its contract.

Entelligence MD Sean Riley said his company met Google SA to discuss how to maximise traffic to the Yellow Pages website, and agreed to co-operate. But Google then hiked the pay-per-click rate from 60c to R2, instantly making it more expensive for Entelligence to promote Yellow Pages.

Riley complained to Google’s country manager, Stafford Masie, about that “unethical behaviour”, triggering a breakdown in their relationship.

Riley then heard that Google SA was trying to persuade Yellow Pages to cancel its contract with Entelligence and let Google manage the account directly.

That was also unfair, he said, as Entelligence had already told Google about its strategies for promoting Yellow Pages and had demonstrated some proprietary technologies.

The final blow came when Google switched off a credit account that Entelligence had with Google, which let it display adverts on the search engine. Riley has also been told that a second account he holds will be closed at the end of the month. That means Entelligence can no longer run some Yellow Pages adverts on Google’s website and will be unable to display any at all when its second account is axed.

“We are now unable to deliver as much traffic to the Yellow Pages site because we can’t create any adverts for them,” Riley said. “The decrease in traffic has been devastating. This is one of our key customers and we can’t provide all the services we are contracted to provide.”

Google’s goal was to make it impossible for Entelligence to fulfil its contract with Yellow Pages so that it could win the account for itself, he said. He would not disclose any financial details of how important Yellow Pages was as a client to his company.

Riley said he tried to escalate the complaint to Google internationally, but was told that the parent company did not interfere in the actions of its local subsidiary. “Our business hinges on a healthy relationship with Google so taking legal action against them was the last resort,” he said.

Google owns about 90% of the market share for search engine traffic in SA and earns 98% of all pay-per-click search advertising revenue.

Entelligence and several other agencies represented Google in SA for years before it set up a direct presence here last year. It was now cherry-picking the high-spending customers at the expense of agents that had grown its popularity in the country, Riley said.

The Competition Commission had begun its investigation, he said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/5091.html

Google SA discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=133684)

[Lydon]

Telkom may again make ‘DSL up to 4Mbps’ and similar speed claims



On 17 July 2007, the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) ruled that Telkom’s claims, “DSL up to 384kbps”, “DSL up to 512kbps”, “DSL up to 1024kbps (4Mbps trial)” and “4Mbps” were unsubstantiated and in breach of advertising standards regulations.

Telkom was ordered to withdraw its ADSL speed claims and not to use them again until new substantiation had been submitted, evaluated and a new ruling had been made.

This ruling was a result of a competitor complaint from Vodacom against Telkom. Vodacom was previously ordered by the ASA not to use speed claims like 3.6 Mbps for its HSDPA broadband offerings.

Telkom, however, took the opportunity to submit new evidence, and submitted a voluminous report from Frost & Sullivan regarding this matter. Vodacom in return did not object to this new evidence.

The Frost & Sullivan report, entitled “DSL Speed Testing and Verification”, contains the results of comprehensive DSL Testing, Verification and Communications Claims project that were commissioned by Telkom. The project consisted of four phases:

The Executive Summary in the report concludes: “The connection speeds claimed in Telkom’s DSL adverts can be achieved and the tests conducted indicate that they can be achieved by more than 80% of Telkom’s subscriber base for its 4096kbps, 512kbps and 384kbps product offering”.

The ASA stated that the report substantiates Telkom’s claims of “DSL up to 384kbps”, “DSL up to 512kbps”, “DSL up to 1024kbps (4Mbps trial)” and “4Mbps”.

The ASA said that, in light of the above, Telkom may continue to use claimed speeds in relation to its ADSL broadband offerings.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/ADSL/5109.html

ADSL speed claims discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134316)

[Lydon]

Helen Zille has accused Vodacom of helping ANC to spy on her


Cape Town mayor Helen Zille has accused cellphone giant Vodacom of helping the ANC-controlled Western Cape government to illegally spy on her.

Vodacom handed more than six months' worth of Zille's detailed call records to the Erasmus Commission of Inquiry. The inquiry was set up late last year by then premier Ebrahim Rasool to probe allegations that the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance broke the law when investigating the controversial councillor Badih Chaaban.

The Cape High Court this week ruled that the commission was illegal and unconstitutional.

"[Rasool's] only motive on the evidence in establishing the second Erasmus commission must have been to embarrass or discredit political opponents, particularly the DA," Judges Kevin Swain and Chris Nicholson said in their ruling.

Zille's call records formed a crucial component of an "interim report" handed to Rasool by the commission last year. He used this report to justify reconstituting the inquiry after Zille challenged its constitutionality. The interim report stitches together the record of calls between Zille, senior DA leaders and the private investigators working on the probe of Chaaban in an apparent effort to show that she was the driving force behind the "spying".

Commission chair Judge Nathan Erasmus broke the commission's own rules when he gave the report to Rasool, the judgement finds. "Consequently, the information contained in the summary of evidence was obtained by the premier unlawfully."

Zille told the Mail & Guardian that she phoned outgoing Vodacom chief Alan Knott-Craig to complain and had briefly considered taking legal action against the company.

"They handed my full phone records over a period of more than six months to a political opponent engaged in a witch-hunt. It is outrageous.

"They obviously didn't do due diligence of any kind on the legality of the request to hand over my records. It just shows that they have to be a whole lot more careful about protecting their clients' privacy."

Zille suggested that her call records would have provided crucial political intelligence to the ruling party. "They wanted to see who I had been speaking to during the floor-crossing period," she said.

Vodacom's chief communications officer, Dot Field, said: "While we understand and respect Ms Zille's concerns, Vodacom received a subpoena from the Erasmus Commission, which was deemed to be a judicial commission of inquiry, and as such, Vodacom provided the information as demanded in terms of the subpoena."

This is not Zille's first complaint about improper surveillance. She met with Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils earlier this year after learning that the landline at her Rosebank home had been tapped.

The judgement is also sharply critical of police Provincial Commissioner Mzwandile Petros. The judges said Petros breached the separation of powers by passing evidence from police raids on Phillip du Toit and Niel van Heerden, the private detectives employed by the city, to Rasool, rather than to the prosecuting authorities.

Zille told the M&G Petros has "no alternative but to resign", and called on Minister in the Presidency Kgalema Motlanthe to sack Rasool, who was last week appointed as his special adviser. "In light of the Cape High Court judgement he is unfit for any form of public office," she told journalists on Wednesday.

Rasool was sanguine: "I would probably be as opportunistic as her if I was in the position she finds herself in today," he told the M&G. He went on to make what could be read as a subtle dig at his replacement in the premier's office, Lynne Brown, who said she will abide by the judgement.

"The reason [Zille] finds herself in that position is that I no longer have the power to appeal. There are many things in the judgement that I would want to take issue with. There are some gratuitous statements and some dangerous precedents. But I don't have the power, and it is in that vacuum that she has this opportunity. I would allow her this opportunity to make all the noise she was unable to make while I did have the power."

Rasool's opponents in the provincial ANC were always sceptical about the commission, and people close to the former premier now concede that his decision to press on with the commission can partially be explained by his political isolation at the time and his need for a victory.

They are critical of Brown, however, saying she is not using her platform in government to take the fight to the DA ahead of next year's elections.

ANC deputy provincial secretary Max Ozinsky said: "Those might be comrade Ebrahim's views, but the provincial executive committee will discuss the matter this weekend and decide the ANC's views."

Phillip du Toit, who conducted surveillance of controversial councillor Badih Chaaban on behalf of the City of Cape Town, is an angry man.

It was when police arrested Du Toit that they came across surveillance equipment and recordings of conversations, some of them between Chaaban and councillors he was trying to induce to cross the floor. Police initially believed they had found evidence of illegal bugging, but have so far been unable to substantiate the allegation.

"My life has been ruined by the Erasmus commission and what [Ebrahim Rasool] and the police said about me. I was in jail for two months. On national television I was called a criminal and a hijacker and perlemoen smuggler. Meanwhile I worked for the National Intelligence Agency [NIA] and the work that I've done has seen to the successful prosecution of at least 12 people," he said.

Du Toit infiltrated Chinese perlemoen syndicates in the Western Cape and Gauteng and was arrested on two occasions by the police in possession of large quantities of perlemoen. At the time of his arrest he was in the process of being handed over as an informant from the NIA to the Scorpions.

"I was exposed by the police although I've asked them to protect me. Today my life is in danger," he told the Mail & Guardian.

His NIA handler Kassie Carstens faced disciplinary charges over the affair and is in the process of appealing against his dismissal.

Both Du Toit and Niel van Heerden, the South Cape chief of investigation firm George Fivaz and Associates, say they plan to sue Rasool in his personal capacity. Van Heerden subcontracted Du Toit to do the Chaaban investigation.

"The interim report of the commission's evidence leader said that there is no evidence of any illegal spying done by us … and yet Rasool continued to call us the 'intelligence wing of the DA' and to say that we are crooked," Van Heerden said, adding that the publicity had seriously damaged his business. "Our political clients are uncertain if they can still trust us. I've been arrested. I was handcuffed and led out of my house by the police. Before the end of the month, we're suing".

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5113.html

Discuss the Vodacom spying allegations (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134293)

[Lydon]

Users of telecoms services have accused Icasa of impeding the industry


HEAVY users of telecommunications services have accused the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) of impeding the telecommunications industry through the organisation’s inefficiency.

Roy Webber, spokesman for the Communications Users’ Association of SA (Cuasa), said Icasa was neither independent nor communicative, as well as being badly funded. Its flawed processes had cost the industry dearly and its latest debacle was delaying the roll-out of more telecoms networks by numerous companies.

Webber spoke yesterday ahead of this weekend’s meeting of the Presidential International Advisory Council on Information Society and Development. Its members include delegates from international hi tech companies in an advisory capacity on how to use technology to advance the nation.

Webber said SA needed a strong, capable, independent, effective and well-funded telecoms regulator. However, Icasa was none of these.

Its latest errors in converting existing telecoms licences into a new version had been highlighted by Pretoria High Court, which found Icasa’s processes flawed. Even Icasa’s website was out of date, Webber said.

“That’s unacceptable. They should be setting an example of how to use technology to propagate your messages and opinions.”

Cuasa saw several areas where the regulator was failing to improve the telecoms climate. Every operator should be forced to offer per-second billing for each call from the first second, Webber said. It should also enforce interconnection fees users pay when a call from one network terminates on another. That adds R1,25 a minute to calls to a different network. “This surely means callers are paying too much for their calls.”

Itumeleng Mosala, former director-general of the science, arts and culture department and now a business consultant, said there had been much interference by unscrupulous governments in the way companies worked. “That interference many times masquerades as regulation. Government has a right to regulate but it has no right to interfere,” he said.

According to Mosala, new leaders would soon be in power, so businesses should work with political parties as a whole to educate them, and not just lobby particular people. Many politicians only partly understood the issues facing businesses, yet they would create policies whether grasping the issues or not.

“If they understand the issues they’d implement policies better. At the moment we have a long way to go,” Mosala said.

Visiting Microsoft delegate Michael Thatcher said even when policies were good, their implementation was erratic. A laudable decision to let schools pay half the normal fee for internet access had not been enforced and fewer than 10% were benefiting.

He said the advisory council would urge the president to make more effort to help schools use technologies.

It would also urge SA to tighten up its intellectual property rights so entrepreneurs could actually make a living from their inventions.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5106.html

ICASA - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134281)

[Lydon]

Vodacom confirms September iPhone launch


Vodafone announced in May that it has signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten of its markets around the globe. These markets include Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

Since this announcement many iPhone enthusiasts have been waiting anxiously for the local release of the iPhone through Vodacom. For them the wait is nearly over.

While Vodacom did not want to disclose the exact launch date – due to confidentiality agreements – company spokesperson Dot Field did say that the iPhone will most likely be launched in September.

Vodacom has been accepting pre-release orders through its website, but again Field would not disclose the exact number of orders. She did however indicate that there is a great deal of excitement about the imminent launch of the new Apple iPhone 3G.

More details in this weeks’ Toys and Technology Podcast (http://mybroadband.co.za/podcast/?p=92).

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5117.html

iPhone discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134424)

[Lydon]

Team behind popular ZA Tech Show launches new podcast for motoring enthusiasts


The team behind the popular ZA Tech Show (http://zatech.co.za/) this week launched a new podcast catering for motoring enthusiasts.

The ZA Car Show (www.zacarshow.co.za (http://www.zacarshow.co.za/)) is presented by a number of motoring journalists and enthusiasts, including well-known Patrick Gearing and Trevor van de Ven.

The show is entertaining as well as hard-hitting, with the presenters pulling no punches when it comes to their opinions on cars.

Simon Dingle, one of the brains behind the ZA Tech Show and now the ZA Car Show, says that the team has already recorded five episodes of the show and the fifth episode will be made available on Monday. The fifth episode includes well-know DJ and car enthusiast, Sasha Martinengo.

New episodes of the show will be recorded every Thursday and made available online on Friday, he says.

The ZA Car Show is based on the same informal but informative approach that has made the ZA Tech Show popular. Dingle says that each weekly episode of the ZA Tech Show is downloaded around 1 200 times. But he says the actual number of listeners is likely to be a lot higher as many companies make episodes of the show available through their own intranets.

Also this week, the ZA Tech Show moved its hosting to local servers at Internet Solutions which will improve the download times for South African fans of the show.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/5116.html

ZA Car Show discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134391)

[JohanSA]

im moving to mtn.....

[Lydon]

Good luck getting a 3G signal should you need one ;)

[JohanSA]

Im in stellenbosch. the university provides us with a network ,wi fi and now stellenbosch community network - all broadband and the terabites of students harddrives content so no need fo 3g. i anyway only use mxit and mobile internet and vodacom are trying to kill mxit. my cuz works for them and its one of their main objectives! their network is also a hundred times more unstable than mtn.... and vodacom is owned by two fat pig companies....

[Lydon]

Im in stellenbosch. the university provides us with a network ,wi fi and now stellenbosch community network - all broadband and the terabites of students harddrives content so no need fo 3g. i anyway only use mxit and mobile internet and vodacom are trying to kill mxit. my cuz works for them and its one of their main objectives! their network is also a hundred times more unstable than mtn.... and vodacom is owned by two fat pig companies....

As are MTN. They've both got competing instant messengers. Competition is a good thing. They are, however, hardly making a dent on Mxit as it has reached critical mass - people get it because their friends have it as so it exponentially grows. They have over 9 million members now.

I've never experienced a problem with Vodacom's internet. For one, it's a proven fact that their 3G/HSDPA coverage dwarfs that of MTN. I've only even had a 3G signal with MTN once and that was lost within a few seconds. My parents are seriously considering switching to Vodacom because MTN incorrectly bill them at least once a week, they struggle to connect to the internet and in general it's just very slow.

So for me the proof is in the pudding. I've been with Voda for 7 years now and have never had a problem with them. The horror stories I can tell of MTN-related issues are aplenty.

[Lydon]

Thabo Mbeki meeting with international advisers on information and communications technology


A meeting between Thabo Mbeki and international advisers on information and communications technology in Hoedspruit, Limpopo was underway, reported SABC news.

Issues to be discussed at the Presidential International Advisory Council on Information Society and Development (PAIC on ISAD) include South Africa’s move from analog to digital broadcasting.

The news station said SABC’s readiness to broadcast the 2010 soccer world cup would also be discussed.

SABC news said the progress South Africa has made regarding the provision of ICT to South Africans, especially those in rural areas, was also on the agenda.

Next month South Africa will begin the migration from analog to digital broadcasting, a process expected to be completed in 2011.

This weekend’s meeting will be the last PIAC meeting to take place under the current administration.

A media briefing will take place at the conclusion of the meeting.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/5124.html

Mbeki ICT meeting (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134478)

[Lydon]

MTN’s ambitions to rule the developing world could be slowed down


MTN’s ambitions to rule the developing world could be seriously slowed down by another big player that is making inroads in its territory.

Zain Telecoms, a network provider whose operations are headquartered in Kuwait, has recently voiced its intentions to enter the local market.

Lindsey McDonald, an analyst with consultancy Frost and Sullivan, said it made sense for Zain to look for a foothold in SA.

“SA is still a very lucrative market, and there is still a lot of room to grow. The only realistic avenue would be for Zain to seek a partnership with Telkom,” McDonald said.

Some observers have speculated that Zain might rather buy Cell C, the smallest of SA’s cellphone operators.

The other option would be to acquire a licence, which might prove difficult because of the Independent Communications Authority of SA’s stringent application requirements.

Mwambu Wanendeya, Zain Africa’s director of communications, said the company was looking for opportunities across Africa. “Competition is good for the industry. It allows us to see the strength of our network. We have a superior network coverage, wide availability of products and efficient service levels,” he said.

MTN might have to brace itself for a serious war on its home turf before it can expand further into Africa, the Middle East and the Far East.

While attending the World Telecoms Africa 2008 conference, Zain Africa chief executive Chris Gabriel told ITWeb that the company was looking to gain coverage “from Cape to Cairo”.

“I will not go into specifics on the deals we are looking at, but we plan to have them completed by 2011,” he said.

Last month parent company Zain Group said it was keen to enter SA. It has spent 12-billion in investments and infrastructure roll-out across its 15 operations in Africa, and has seven operations in the Middle East.

Zain has been increasing its public profile of late, co-sponsoring local broadcasts of the Beijing Olympics and rebranding its Africa-wide Celtel unit from Celtel to Zain Africa last month.

The company’s expansion has also been fuelled by its One Network promotion. Subscribers travelling within 15 selected countries are charged normal tariffs without roaming fees. MTN recently launched its own “Roam Africa for only R5” offer, but it is set to end just after the 2010 World Cup.

Rajay Ambekar, IT analyst at Cadiz Asset Management, said: “I think Zain is a threat to MTN. Even the R5 roaming offer is still more expensive than what Zain charges on its network. ”

In Nigeria, where MTN has more clients than in SA, Zain has added more subscribers than MTN, Ambekar added.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5125.html

MTN versus Zain discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134492)

[Lydon]

ICASA issues I-ECS and I-ECNS licences


The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has announced in a statement on Friday that it is now ready to issue the converted Individual Electronic Communications Services (I-ECS) and the Electronic Communications Network Services (I-ECNS) licences.

ICASA published the following dates for the collection of the different type of ECS licenses:

(i) Individual (Commercial and Public) Broadcasting Licensees must collect their converted licenses and separate frequency licences in the week of 8-12 September 2008;
(ii) Class Broadcasting Licensees must collect their converted licenses and separate frequency licences from 15-30 September 2008;
(iii) I-ECS and I-ECNS listed in Schedule A must collect their licences from 22 -30 September 2008.
(iv) Class ECS and ECNS must collect their converted licences from 25 September to 1 October 2008.
(v) Licensees residing in the Gauteng Province must collect their licences at the Authority‘s Sandton office, Block D Pinmill Farm 164 Katherine Street and contact Ms Barbara Paxinos at 011-566 3187 or Ms Lindeni Xaba at 011-566 3649. ;
(vi) Licensees residing in Kwazulu Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape Mpumalanga and Free Sate provinces must collect their converted licences at the relevant regional offices of the Authority
(vii) Licensees residing in Limpopo, North West and Northern Cape will receive their converted licences via registered mail.
(viii) The Authority will in due course issue a further Notice with regards to issue of the outstanding licences to the I-ECS and I-ECNS not listed on this Notice.

Telkom, Vodacom, Cell C, MTN and Neotel are listed to receive I-ECS and I-ECNS licences after the finalization of Licence Fees Regulations.

Further information on the licensing process can be accessed from Government Notice No: 31399, published on 05 September 2008.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5119.html

ECA licensing discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134569)

[Lydon]

THE floodgates have been opened for increased telecoms competition


THE floodgates have been opened for companies to start laying their own telecommunications networks — and finally start bringing prices down.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) decided not to appeal the Pretoria High Court’s judgement to allow Altech Autopage Cellular to become a provider of telecommunications services.

Senior Icasa officials were locked in meetings late last week to discuss the appropriate response to the court’s decision.

The decision will mean that Altech Autopage Cellular will be allowed to roll out its own physical network infrastructure rather than being a mere service provider piggy-backing on the network of licensed operators (MTN, Vodacom, Telkom, Neotel and Cell C).

Icasa spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela said: “Our position is that we are not appealing. That judgment stands, and we won’t oppose it.”

Following this, the regulator said it was now ready to issue converted I-ECNS (Individual Electronic Communications Network Licences).

A total of 27 licensees will receive IECNS and IECS (Individual Electronic Communications Services) licences.

Industry observers felt the Altech decision was justified considering the country’s high telecommunications prices which, according to a 2005 study by the South Africa Foundation, are 31 times higher than the cheapest country.

Since the publication of the study, prices in South Africa have been on the rise — despite the introduction of second network operator Neotel. In the rest of the world average prices have been dropping.

Last week’s decision could set a precedent where a flood of Vans (value added network service providers) entering the market will have the legal right to dig up roads and pavements in areas they feel are commercially viable for the rollout of fixed networks, which will be either copper or fibre-optic cables.

The regulator is currently converting five Vans licences into I-ECNS licences .

These are for Dimension Data, Datapro, MultiChoice, Global Web intact and Verizon.

In December last year, Altech wrote to Icasa seeking clarity on the decision and threatened legal action on the matter.

In April this year, Altech launched a court case which held little promise of victory.

Craig Venter, Altech chief executive, said: “We undertook to get clarity on a matter which at the end of the day affects the South African consumer and businesses alike in terms of having access to a wider range of telecommunications providers and ultimately seeing reduced rates in voice and data services.”

South Africans have, to date, had a choice between services hosted by Vodacom and MTN, Telkom and recently Neotel.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5126.html

VANS licensing discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134571)

[Lydon]

MTN is still keen to invest in India


Cellular network operator MTN is still keen to invest in India, despite the collapse of successive talks with that country’s two largest mobile operators, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications.

MTN and Bharti were unable to reach agreement about the structure of a merged business; the Reliance talks collapsed because of a family feud between the billionaire Ambani brothers, Anil and Mukesh.

“The Indian market is very important,” says MTN CEO Phuthuma Nhleko. “It’s not a market you can discount easily, particularly if you want to remain in emerging markets. But it is also a highly competitive market. Entry needs to be thought through carefully.”

Nhleko blames the talks breakdown with Bharti Airtel on the complexity of structuring a large, cross-border deal. “There was a whole multiplicity of issues that meant we never got to an amicable settlement. It’s not that there was bad spirit. Sometimes things don’t work, sometimes they do.”

Nhleko won’t name potential opportunities in India that the group might go after now. “We’re taking a breather [from looking at India]. There is nothing pushing us to do a deal urgently. There are a number of opportunities and we continue to pursue these.”

But MTN, which had notched up 74m subscribers by the end of June, clearly isn’t sated. Nhleko says the group will continue to pursue opportunities, even if that means going into non-English-speaking markets. Language is less important than ensuring critical mass to compete effectively against the large regional operators, he says.

One option for expansion is Latin America, though there is nothing specific on the radar. “You have some fairly large regional players there that have advantages if you don’t have critical mass,” he says. An acquisition in the Middle East or Southeast Asia looks more likely in the short term, given that no operator dominates markets there yet.

Smaller acquisitions also aren’t off the table, though they must allow MTN to consolidate its position in particular regions, such as West or North Africa.

Having done gutsy deals in the past, such as the blockbuster US$5,5bn acquisition of Investcom, investors have come to expect big things from Nhleko and his team. After the talks with Reliance broke down, investors dumped the share. That may simply have created a rare buying opportunity for investors, who believe Nhleko when he says MTN will build the leading telecom operator in emerging markets.

It won’t be easy, though. There are already much bigger fish in the pond — companies such as China Mobile and Latin America’s América Móvil. And other regional operators like Kuwait’s Zain have similar ambitions to MTN.

Meanwhile, MTN continues its blistering growth. Subscriber numbers have jumped 53% in the past year.

Its key markets, including SA and Nigeria, are still growing strongly. Iran has proved to be a revelation. After only two years of operation, Irancell, in which MTN has a 49% stake, has signed up 11,6m subscribers. That’s not far behind SA’s 15,6m.

Revenue in the six months to June 30 climbed 35% to R46,1bn. Earnings haven’t risen as sharply because of big, but long overdue, investments in network upgrades to address capacity constraints.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) rose 29% to R19,6bn for the six-month period. Ebitda margin in Southern and East Africa came under particular pressure, falling to 33,5% from 35,5% on the back of investment by the SA subsidiary in network upgrades.

Profit after tax rose just 11%, to R7bn, depressed by the end of the tax holiday in Nigeria. The effective tax rate should come down “meaningfully” in the second half of the year.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5101.html

MTN discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134570)

[Lydon]

Appointments are due to be made to help SA utilise ICT more effectively


APPOINTMENTS, including a raft of advisers to the government, are due to be made to help SA utilise information and communication technology (ICT) more effectively.

The announcement follows a three-day meeting between President Thabo Mbeki and his Presidential International Advisory Council on Information Society and Development which ended in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, yesterday.

The meeting focused on developments and trends in ICT and reviewed progress in areas such as e-government, education and health.

While Mogeotladi Mogano had already been appointed

co-ordinator of the advisory council, a CEO of the e-skills council was to be appointed within three months.

A local CEOs’ forum would help implement decisions taken by the advisory council, now in its seventh year of existence.

In addition, advisers would work with Trade and Investment SA, a division of the trade and industry department, to ensure that SA improved its investment in ICT.

Advisers would also constitute a group that would assist the government in energy saving, especially in the ICT sector.

To measure progress against set goals, a scorecard would be developed.

Briefing journalists, Mbeki said yesterday that SA had made some progress in the provision of ICT to South Africans. Now, he said, “as government, service providers and operators we need to look into innovative approaches to expand connectivity in rural areas".

Also discussed during the meeting was the country’s readiness to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. SA was expected to spend between R2bn and R5bn on ICT infrastructure needed for the games.

This would include event management systems with software to manage the accreditation of delegates, as well as transportation, travel and protocol systems.

The cabinet recently approved migration from analogue to digital television. That will start next month, and is expected to be completed in 2011.

Earlier this year, Mbeki inaugurated an e-skills academy aimed at accelerating the development of professional qualifications.

Based in Johannesburg, the academy opened its doors in January, four months after it was announced at the advisory council’s forum last year.

The council is a high-level panel made up of 23 luminaries in the ICT sector, including representatives from SAP, Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard.

Mbeki said: “The establishment of the council is born from the fact that there is a lack of a co-ordinated, coherent and integrated approach for addressing the ICT skills shortage at all levels in the country." With Sapa, Buanews

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/5129.html

Government & ICT - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134596)

[Lydon]

AfriForum wants Vodacom YeboYethu shares for whites



AfriForum is laying the groundwork for legal battle that, if successful, could redefine black economic empowerment.
The civil rights body under the mainly white trade union Solidarity, submitted a application to buy some of Vodacom’s YeboYethu shares on behalf of an "impoverished young white" resident in Bethlehem.
"AfriForum will monitor whether the shares will indeed be allocated and will take legal action if the shares are not allocated," it said in statement.
According to YeboYethu’s rules, "black" people refers to Africans, Indians, and Chinese individuals. Kriel said that no legal framework exists in terms of which Vodacom can claim that impoverished residents of Bethlehem are not Africans.

Kriel indicated that the residents of Bethlehem with “pale” complexions regard themselves to be Africans, as they feel themselves to be deeply committed to the continent.
All applicants will be informed within 30 days after September 11 2008 whether their applications for shares had been successful.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5161.html

Vodacom YeboYetho shares discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134883)

[Lydon]

New Google backed initiative to provide high-speed, low-cost Internet to Africa


O3b Networks today announced it will begin deployment of a new global communications infrastructure to provide high-speed, low-cost Internet connectivity to emerging markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Backed with financial and operational support from Google, Liberty Global and HSBC Principal Investments, the new system will reduce bandwidth costs for telecommunications operators (telcos) and Internet service providers (ISPs) -- enabling cost-effective voice and broadband services at speeds equivalent to those enjoyed in the developed world.

Developed nations, particularly in the northern hemisphere, are well served by an extensive submarine fiber network. The deployment of a fiber network in many developing markets is not commercially viable or practical.

According to the O3b Networks the system will offer fiber performance over satellite, at prices comparable to fiber in developed regions.

“By allowing direct connection to core networks and 3G Cellular/WiMAX towers, the O3b Networks system will completely change the economics of telecommunications infrastructure in the world's fastest-growing markets for communications services.”

O3b said that the rapid growth of telecommunications services in emerging markets demonstrates the demand as well as the commercial and social benefits available. In O3b Networks' target markets, where the deployment of high-capacity bandwidth is restricted due to geographic, economic or political barriers, the Company's low-cost, low-latency Internet backhaul and 3G Cellular backhaul services will allow telcos and ISPs to offer affordable, high-speed Internet access services -- effectively bridging the digital divide between developed and emerging markets.

O3b Networks' operational and technical development is well underway. Production of the initial constellation of 16 satellites has begun. The system's 2,133 transponder equivalents will deliver low-latency Internet backhaul at speeds reaching 10 gigabits per second. Service activation is scheduled for late 2010.

The scalable nature of the system allows for additional satellites to increase capacity and meet growing demand.

O3b Networks was founded by successful high-technology entrepreneur Greg Wyler with a mission of making the Internet accessible and affordable for billions of people in emerging and developed markets.

Wyler, along with O3b Networks Chairman John W. Dick, recently helped pioneer the first commercial 3G mobile and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks in Africa.

That experience revealed the urgent need in developing countries for low-latency, gigabit backhaul services that can power high-speed data and voice connectivity for consumers, businesses, schools and health care facilities.

"Access to the Internet backbone is still severely limited in emerging markets," Wyler said.

"Only when emerging markets achieve affordable and ubiquitous access to the rest of the world will we observe locally generated content, widespread e-learning, telemedicine and many more enablers to social and economic growth which reflect the true value of the Internet. O3b Networks will bring multi-gigabit Internet speeds directly to emerging markets, whether landlocked in Africa or isolated by water in the Pacific Islands."

Bringing together Google, Liberty Global and HSBC has created a team that is ideally suited to help bring this new service to market.

"O3b Networks' model empowers local entrepreneurs and companies to deliver Internet and mobile services to those in currently underserved or remote locations at speeds necessary to power rich web-based applications," said Larry Alder, Google Alternative Access Team Product Manager.

"We believe in O3b Networks' model and its goal of expanding the reach of the Internet to users who currently have limited and expensive connection options, as it complements our mission of organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful."

Liberty Global is the world's leading international cable operator, offering advanced video, telephone and broadband Internet services to 16.1 million customers across 15 countries.

Liberty Global CEO Michael Fries said, "Core transmission capacity is one of the most significant barriers to rolling out the high-speed telecommunications infrastructure necessary for a developing country and its economy. Using innovative modern satellite technology, O3b Networks will make fiber-quality connectivity available throughout most of the world, without having to lay any fiber."

Richard J Cole, HSBC Global Head of Principal Investments & Private Equity, said, "HSBC's Principal Investments business is pleased to invest in O3b Networks and support the company's enabling high-speed, low-cost Internet connectivity in emerging markets. This investment is integral to HSBC Principal Investments' strategic focus of investing primarily in growing emerging markets."

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5158.html

Google broadband initiative - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134885)

[Lydon]

TELKOM may be able to trim R1.3bn a year off its running costs


TELKOM may be able to trim R1,3bn a year off its running costs with a deal to outsource the care and maintenance of its core network.

The operator is assessing proposals by international equipment suppliers and technology integration providers, and will enter detailed talks with prospective partners soon.

Chief operating officer Motlatsi Nzeku said this week that expressions of interest had been received from many groups, including Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Cisco, as well as systems integration specialists.

The next step was to firm up requirements for service levels and cost structures. It would then negotiate with bidders and evaluate their technical skills and ability to meet expectations.

The effect on its 26000 staff will be high. Union Solidarity expects up to 19000 jobs to be affected if networking facilities, Telkom Direct shops and logistics processes are outsourced.

Solidarity spokesman Jaco Kleynhans said it did not oppose the plan, as SA needed a better infrastructure, which a more technically accomplished player could provide. But job protection conditions would have to be met before the union would give its full support, he said.

Nzeku said the contract was probably too large for a single winner. He expected a decision in the first quarter of next year.

Telkom needs to cut running costs with demand dwindling. New customers signing up for its services are down 30% a year, and 28% of consumers and small businesses default on their bills.

“You have to balance the capacity on the inside to match the demand,” Nzeku said. Having employees work exclusively for Telkom while several other companies did the same was inefficient. It led to a “wage auction” as skilled technicians hopped from job to job.

The answer was for one world-class operator, equipment supplier or integration company to provide network management services to several operators simultaneously.

“That’s a lot more efficient in the use of skills, equipment and systems,” Nzeku said.

Exact terms are not yet defined, but the tender will be to manage and when necessary upgrade all Telkom public networks. It will not outsource networks it provides exclusively for big customers such as Absa.

Case studies showed operators could typically cut running costs by 28%, and boost service quality by 10%-15%.

That would save about R1,3bn of the annual R4,8bn Telkom’s networks cost to run.

Nzeku said union representatives had been taken to several countries including New Zealand, Brazil and Germany to study operators that had outsourced some activities. Job losses posed a major challenge, so the unions “will not be enthusiastic about this”, he said.

However, Kleynhans said: “We are not that negative about it. We are going to work with Telkom to make it successful because it’s in the interests of the industry that changes happen.

“The economy needs a good infrastructure, and part of that is a good telecoms infrastructure.

“We really need a world-class industry, and outsourcing will have a positive effect because Telkom is far behind some other companies in the way it operates.”

One hitch could be Solidarity’s insistence that no jobs are lost, as bidders may be reluctant to absorb vast numbers of extra staff.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5164.html

Telkom network outsourcing - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=134970)

[Lydon]

Yebo4Less now available to Vodacom Top Up contract customers


In May this year Vodacom launched its Yebo4Less service, promising subscribers up to 99% off Vodacom-to-Vodacom calls, and up to 65% off calls to other networks.

The Yebo4Less service is free to all Vodacom prepaid subscribers and the discounts are applicable to voice and 3G video calls.

One of the criticisms of the service was that it does not apply to contract customers, and this is something that Vodacom has now partly addressed in its latest Yebo4Less offering.

From 1 October Yebo4Less Top Up customers can get up to 99% off calls to all networks. The Yebo4Less service comes in two flavours, namely a Top Up 99 for R 99.00 per month and Top Up 199 for R 199.00 per month.

Apart from the fact that the Yebo4Less discounts are available to some contract customers, another positive development is that subscribers can expect up to 99% off calls calls to all networks. On the current Yebo4Less prepaid service discounts to other networks are capped at 65%.

It is however not clear how Vodacom are able to offer a 99% discounts on off-net calls where high interconnect rates mean that the company will be making a loss on calls during 99% discounted periods.

MTN was the first cellular operator to launch a variable discount service when it introduced its MTN Zone offering in February this year. Since then the cellular provider has beefed up its MTN Zone service, but it looks like MTN is planning even bigger pricing changes.

MTN is preparing for a big launch which the cellular operator promises will ‘revolutionize the way people communicate’. It is not clear what exactly MTN is planning, but industry speculation suggests that it will involve new price plans.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5212.html

Yebo4Less discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=135485)

[Lydon]

Government's faith in Telkom seems likely to pay off.


Government's faith in Telkom to provide the necessary ICT capacity demanded by Fifa for the 2010 soccer World Cup seems likely to pay off.

There has been concern about whether Telkom can provide world-class ICT infrastructure to support the multimillion rand International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), a 30 000m² media nerve centre, to be built in Nasrec, Johannesburg.

All broadcast transmissions from the World Cup stadiums, and distribution will be facilitated through the IBC 24 hours a day for 10 weeks.

Arthur Goldstuck, CEO of World Wide Worx, believes Telkom has the technical capability and resources to meet the Fifa requirements.

"They may have compromised quality when it comes to consumers but the technical capability and taste and sophistication of the required infrastructure will be up when we host the World Cup," he says.

SA lags its international counterparts in terms of ICT penetration and the rate of implementing new technology. Added to this is the ongoing issue of the lack of sufficient bandwidth.

Telkom is investing R3,2bn between 2006 and 2010 in the Next Generation Network (NGN) to facilitate the changes.

The idea behind NGN is that one network transports all information and services (voice, data, video) by summing it up into packets. The network will help increase bandwidth.

Fifa's deadline for completion of the IBC is March 2010.

The IBC will include radio and TV broadcasting studios; a convenience store; and mailing, courier, banking, cleaning, catering, and medical and emergency services.

According to a Grant Thornton study, the IBC will create 3 370 jobs and contribute R341m to the city's GDP.

Neither the SABC nor government will be directly involved in its construction.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5209.html

2010 ICT infrastructure discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=135540)

[Lydon]

Cheaper broadband to give online retailers hope


Running a business on the internet in South Africa is looking increasingly promising, with the cost of broadband access expected to become more affordable with the laying of new undersea cables and the recent shake-up in network licensing by the Independent Communications Authority of SA, the telecoms regulator.

This is expected to lead to a 30 percent increase in local e-commerce sales, according to Arthur Goldstuck of information technology research company World Wide Worx.

He notes that online vendors are not as vulnerable to the retail cycle as stores that rely on bricks-and-mortar infrastructure to generate sales.

This is because sales made online often derive from consumers deciding to move already existing spend to sales made on the internet.

Goldstuck believes the opening up of broadband is good news for Web-based businesses and says it is likely to lead to people spending more time researching products online, which can translate into sales.

Allen Jaffe, the managing director of search engine optimisation company RIO media, says the number of businesses dependent only on the internet to generate their income is growing at a "radical" rate.

"There are people that have quit their jobs and run businesses online," says Jaffe, who believes that South Africa has yet to experience the real boom in e-commerce.

He says about 10 percent of retail sales in the US are done online, while in South Africa such sales make up only about 0.5 percent of sales.

Jaffe also runs Book Cape Town, an online business that handles travel and hospitality bookings. Service providers pay commission for bookings generated by the site.

Because internet fraud is "huge", Jaffe says, he always gets the ID number of clients before they embark on a tour. Another constant security risk is that a website can be hacked and have its traffic directed to a rival site.

Jaffe uses a white-label internet security site for his payments, for which he pays a minimum fee every month.

But Neil Ashton, who runs search engine optimisation company Access Solution, says businesses that run on the internet still have to struggle with costly couriers and high banking fees, as well as the low number of credit card users in South Africa.

Ashton, who has an online business selling rugby and cricket T-shirts, says it costs between R2 000 and R4 000 to get an internet payment gateway. The bank will take a commission of up to 7 percent on each credit card purchase.

He does not believe that the laying of undersea cables will necessarily cause his business to boom, mainly because this infrastructure will not do anything for the many people who do not have credit cards.

"It's going to be nice, but I don't think it's going to double my turnover."

For an online business, it is vital to be picked up by search engines. Such listings bring in 90 percent of Web traffic.

Ashton says there are 47 elements to consider when it comes to optimising your site for search engines.

Some of these include the text of the site, reciprocal links to other sites, meta tags (code keywords that give a user's site a higher ranking on search engines) and how regularly the site is updated. Sites that are more frequently updated are ranked higher by search engines. He says websites that use Flash graphics will not necessarily score higher in searches than those that don't.

He recommends that business owners use pay-for-click adverts initially before one's website is ranked well by search engines, as this process can take about three months.

Owners of online entrepreneurial ventures have a much better rate of success if they sell niche products, services or information on the internet, rather than trying to sell generic content, says Ashton.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/5217.html

eCommerce discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=135592)

[Lydon]

The 2010 soccer World Cup could make Internet adoption ubiquitous in SA


The 2010 soccer World Cup could be the event that makes Internet adoption ubiquitous in SA.
Telecom traffic or Internet usage could rise by as much as 25% over the course of the event. This trend will be spurred by demand for mobile TV — broadcasting to cellphones — and the possible viewing of TV over the Internet, says William Hahn, an analyst at technology research group Gartner.

If the Beijing Olympic Games are anything to go by, global sporting events like the World Cup will continue to be a big driver of Internet usage. “The growth rate for applications such as downloads, messaging traffic and highlight viewing is staggering,” he says.

Hahn points out that it is not just a matter of the amount of Olympic content being accessed over the Internet; there is a change in the way people in the US are consuming online services.

Instead of just reading news stories, they are watching video highlights of the games, as if they were reading morning newspaper headlines.

But is SA ready to cater for the same kind of demand? On paper, the country looks unprepared. It might have more cellphones per head than the rest of the continent, but Internet usage only stands at a dismal 8,16 users per 100 inhabitants, according to International Telecoms Union 2007 figures.

Hahn expects this to change very quickly and points to the array of undersea cables being developed as signs of a dramatic change.

He says these cables will help deal with the shortage of international bandwidth and high prices in SA. “Increased supply leads providers to cut prices to the bone,” Hahn says.

But lower prices and more bandwidth are just the beginning.

Hahn sees an opportunity for mobile operators to push new products like mobile TV onto their consumer base. “Worldwide, mobile carriers are seeing mobile TV as a potential killer application for 3G,” he says.

3G was supposed to have driven Internet usage over the mobile phone, but has failed to live up to expectations — a shortage of tech-ready handsets during its launch and high tariffs resulted in the slow take-up.

Hahn says that the business case for mobile TV in SA is strong, considering that 25% of all the smart phones in Africa are in SA.

“Mobile TV will carry much of the video traffic during 2010 as increasing numbers of attendees and remote audiences show a willingness to view sports on the small screen,” he says.

Mobile TV licensing is expected to be completed next year and Vodacom and MTN are already offering subscribers the opportunity to download TV shows onto their phones.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Broadband/5114.html

Internet in SA discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=135591)

[Pule]

Cisco unveils R215m ICT investment in anticipation of ‘broadband boom’

By: Mariaan Olivier
Published: 15 Sep 08 - 10:25

Networking equipment supplier and network management for the Internet company Cisco has unveiled a R215-milion investment to set up an information and communication technology (ICT) innovation hub centre, in Pretoria.

The Cisco Innovation Hub Technology Centre (CIHTC), a public private partnership, would be an advanced technology incubation centre, aimed at fostering and developing local skills, intellectual property, entrepreneurship and solution development capabilities in the local ICT sector.

Cisco said that these initiatives were expected to drive a R1-billion gross domestic product effect over an initial five-year period.

Cisco South Africa MD Steve Midgley said the company was investing in this initiative to ensure that South Africa had enough skills, solution creation capabilities and intellectual property to benefit from broadband when the “revolution really kicks off”.

“South Africa is on the brink of entering a broadband boom,” he said.

“This will change the way people live and work – giving the public sector and business the opportunity to gain significant efficiencies, to drive productivity enhancements, to achieve cost reductions and to gain access to new market segments within their existing business models. It will also create an enabling platform from which new business models can be created.”

The CIHTC would create a minimum of 200 direct jobs and 800 indirect employment opportunities.

Initiatives, such as an InnovationLab, a global talent acquisition programme, the Cisco Netversity, an entrepreneur institute and a software development programme would be based at the new 3 000-m2 centre at the Innovation Hub.

The InnovationLab focused on developing technology solutions to solve common business challenges in South Africa. It has been running since the beginning of the year and was currently developing solutions in education and crime prevention.

The Cisco global talent acquisition programme (GTAP) aimed to tackle the growing shortage of skilled networking professionals in the country. The GTAP has absorbed the first group of students to create high-level network entrepreneurs at a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) level in an accelerated form. The company aimed to create a minimum of 120 CCIE-level network engineers over a five-year period for the local market, at its own cost.

Another skills development programme, Cisco Netversity, aimed to create some 150 network design engineers through an experiential architecture and design programme.

The company would also aim to train 250 entrepreneurs through its Cisco Entrepreneur Institute. The first student intake would be before the end of the year.

At the CIHTC, Cisco would also establish a software development programme to focus on developing applications for its own business requirements. However, it stated that while the applications would initially be used to automate its own processes, it would make the source code available to local software entrepreneurs to innovate upon and offer local software innovations for sale in the domestic or export markets.

Edited by: Mariaan Olivier

[Caisson Boy]

I see Neotel have begun running adverts on terrestrial television...

[Pule]

Cape Town to boost fibre optic network

Lindsay Dentlinger 18 September 2008 at 11h00
Submit your comment

Cape Town's economic development directorate wants the council to allocate additional funds to accelerate the expansion of its fibre-optic network to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, saying if it did not do so it would affect the growth of business in these areas.

Phase 1 of the project entails the laying of 202km of cable and connection to about 50 key municipal buildings, mostly in existing business districts of the city.

Phase 2 has not yet been approved but the plans are for the network to be expanded to parts of the city not served by modern telecommunications infrastructure.


The city plans to spend R400-million over the next five years on the first phase of the project.

But the city's economic and social development department said in a report to the mayoral committee that the city had planned the first phase to concentrate on saving the council on telecommunications costs while its potential wide economic development impacts had not been fully taken into account.

"As a result the network is concentrated around existing business districts and only passes through well-developed suburbs," said the report.

The network infrastructure would not immediately pass through Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain nor extend towards Atlantis and Brackenfell, which were under-served by telecommunications infrastructure.

This had a number of consequences, including that businesses in these areas do not have access to broadband telecommunications, limiting their efficiency and reducing the incentive for new investment into these areas. This also resulted in fewer jobs being created and people having to seek jobs in suburbs that are far away from where they live.

"Economic development is thus prejudiced in these areas, limiting their economic growth potential," said the report.

The city's economic development department believes that the impact of the city's broadband project can be greatly enhanced by extending the current project to include additional phases that will lay fibre optic through these less developed areas.

However, the report, which would have been discussed by the mayoral committee yesterday, was referred back to the directorate as it did not contain the actual economic implications of expanding the network to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain.

[Lydon]

I see Neotel have begun running adverts on terrestrial television...

Yeah they've been doing it for a month or two now :)

[Lydon]

Cell C under fire for claiming to offer more choice than it actually does



A recent Cell C advertisement said: “…you can give your dependants the ability to keep in touch without breaking the bank. The latest handset of their choice, R115 airtime and 100 SMSs…”

A Ms Korowlay, however, discovered that there are only a select number of handsets are available to choose from, and not the “latest handset of their choice”.

Korowlay lodged a consumer complaint against Cell C with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA), saying that the advertisement was misleading.

Cell C responded saying that a varying range of cell phones were promoted in its radio, television and print advertisements, and the pay-off line emphasises the choice of handsets when taking out a Control Chat 100 contract.

The ASA was not convinced, saying that it was trite that advertisers should not rely on other mediums to rectify a misleading impression created on a particular advertisement.

Cell C was ordered to withdraw the advertisement in its current format and not use it again in future in its current format.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5247.html

Cell C discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=136111)

[Lydon]

TELKOM plans to invest more than R4,3bn to expand the network and services



TELKOM plans to invest more than R4,3bn to expand the network and services being offered by Multi-Links, the majority owned Nigerian private telecommunications firm it acquired last year for $280m.

The expenditure is part of an expansion programme of more than R11bn that Telkom, Africa's largest fixed-phone operator, will incur during the 2009 financial year as part of an investment strategy to consolidate its position as a leading pan-African telecommunications operator.

Telkom said it wanted to expand the subscriber base of Multi-Links from more than a million customers as of May to 3-million next year.

“Capital expenditure of $160m was spent during the 2008 financial year to accelerate the expansion of Multi-Links' network and quality operating systems,” Telkom CEO Reuben September said on Tuesday.

“We plan to invest $533m in capital expenditure for the 2009 financial year to further extend the network and services, and take advantage of the enormous growth opportunities in Nigeria."

Multi-Links operates in several Nigerian cities on a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) platform. This is a cellular technology that competes with the standard GSM mobile technology on which many cellular networks operate.

Multi-Links has been given a unified licence to offer the full complement of roaming, voice, internet and data services.

The company generated revenue of R845m and a loss before tax of R63,5m in the year to March, but a tax credit helped Multi-Links to post a profit after tax of R49m.

“Multi-Links' strategy will focus on brand awareness and promotional campaigns to increase revenue of fixed-wireless and mobile customers," Telkom said.

“The prospects for Multi Links are good and the company intends to capitalise on Telkom's brand and access to international connectivity."
Telkom acting chief finance officer Deon Fredericks said the group's capital expenditure programme during 2009 would total R11,3bn, with at least R7bn earmarked for investments on its fixed-line network and the balance on Multi-Links.

Telkom was targeting compound annual revenue growth of up to 10% in the next three years, and expected to benefit from increased revenues from data, broadband and converged businesses, as well as from its subsidiaries.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5266.html

Telkom growth discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=136163)

[Lydon]

Telkom has suspended talks with Mvelaphanda Holdings



Reuters reported on Thursday that Telkom has suspended talks with with a consortium led by Mvelaphanda Holdings (Mvela), but that it was still in talks with Vodafone regarding a potential stake in Vodacom.

"(Telkom) and the (Mvelaphanda) consortium have jointly agreed to suspend discussions in response to current market conditions and pricing considerations," Reuters quoted Telkom as saying.

“Mvelaphanda Holdings and US-based Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and other strategic allies were considering making an offer for the entire share capital of Telkom. Their offer was subject to Telkom unbundling its entire 50% stake in Vodacom.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5277.html

Telkom discussions - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=136276)

[Lydon]

Telkom plans to become a significant player in wireless telecommunications



Telkom is expected to announce details of its strategy to become a significant player in wireless telecommunications in the next few weeks, as it gears up to compete more aggressively with mobile operators MTN and Vodacom.

Telkom executives say the company will formally announce its plans by the end of the month. Its initial deployment will exclude full mobile services — involving the hand-off (movement of calls) between cellular towers — as the Vodacom shareholders’ agreement with Vodafone specifically prohibits it from providing mobile telephony.

But the company is clearly itching to play in the mobile space. CEO Reuben September says a sale by Telkom of its 50% stake in Vodacom — it is at present in talks with Vodafone, Vodacom’s other shareholder — would free it to become a mobile player. “It is important for us … to take advantage of that and provide what our customers want from us, something that is seamless between fixed and mobile,” he says.

The jury is still out about the strategy, though. Analysts privately express doubt about September and his management team, and the company’s share price has been treading water since January. It’s down nearly 30% year on year.

Telkom wants to build a new network using wideband CDMA, the same third-generation (3G) mobile technology that MTN and Vodacom have deployed to offer wireless voice and broadband. September says Telkom will initially spend about R1,7bn on its 3G network. It is also planning to deploy WiMax, an alternative wireless broadband system.

September says the networks will be built on a “selective basis”. Rather than constructing a national network on the scale of those operated by MTN and Vodacom, Telkom will target areas where it makes financial sense to build. “Our business plan gives us an internal rate of return in excess of 20%. How we expand the network depends on the business case that gets developed as we look at market dynamics and demand.”

Telkom chief of operations Motlatsi Nzeku says base stations will be put up where there has been repeated copper theft and the cost of replacing that copper is no longer justified.

Cable theft is an enormous problem for Telkom. Between March and July this year, repair costs for copper theft stood at R58m. Though down from R87m in the same period last year, it is still very high. The number of cable theft incidents in the period was 4 247, compared with last year’s 6 950.
“We have stabilised the situation through a lot of intervention — alarming our cable routes, and in some areas burying cable,” Nzeku says.

Telkom’s wireless network won’t be constructed only in areas affected by cable theft. They will also be used where corrosion caused by rain and other factors have made network maintenance high.

Metropolitan areas — Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town — will be the primary focus, though some rural areas will also get the technology. The old Dect wireless masts the company erected in the 1990s as part of its obligation to connect millions of new customers in under serviced areas will be retrofitted with 3G and WiMax antennae.

Because the cost of communications equipment has plummeted in recent years, Telkom believes it is now feasible to offer services to these communities profitably. The old Dect towers are connected to the company’s national backhaul network, making it relatively cheap to bring them online using the new technologies.

Telkom has already built a limited WiMax network, but using an older, non mobile version of the technology. These sites will be replaced with mobile WiMax and future deployments will all be mobile, Nzeku says. However, as with the 3G network, there will be no hand-off between base stations unless or until Telkom concludes a deal to dispose of its shareholding in Vodacom.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5278.html

Telkom wireless - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=136303)

[Pule]

Cell C under fire for claiming to offer more choice than it actually does




A recent Cell C advertisement said: “…you can give your dependants the ability to keep in touch without breaking the bank. The latest handset of their choice, R115 airtime and 100 SMSs…”

A Ms Korowlay, however, discovered that there are only a select number of handsets are available to choose from, and not the “latest handset of their choice”.

Korowlay lodged a consumer complaint against Cell C with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA), saying that the advertisement was misleading.

Cell C responded saying that a varying range of cell phones were promoted in its radio, television and print advertisements, and the pay-off line emphasises the choice of handsets when taking out a Control Chat 100 contract.

The ASA was not convinced, saying that it was trite that advertisers should not rely on other mediums to rectify a misleading impression created on a particular advertisement.

Cell C was ordered to withdraw the advertisement in its current format and not use it again in future in its current format.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5247.html

Cell C discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=136111)

ASA is seriously dealing with these kinds of cases nowadays. I think its a very good thing.

[Lydon]

ASA is seriously dealing with these kinds of cases nowadays. I think its a very good thing.

I agree. They seem take all complaints very seriously. It only takes one or two valid complaints to get a TV ad pulled from air.

[Lydon]

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has been named Community IT Hero for 2008


Major IT publisher, CNET Networks UK, has named South Africa's Mark Shuttleworth as the IT Community Hero of the Year in its sixth annual UK Business Technology Awards.

Shuttleworth was recognised for the support he had given to the community of developers working on the Ubuntu project and his commitment to a freely available operating system that can be used by anybody, anywhere in the world.

The judges in the awards said that Shuttleworth had "given great support to the community of developers working on the Ubuntu project, as well as being an active member himself.

"The project is dedicated to building and maintaining a freely available operating system that can be used by anybody, anywhere in the world. The desktop and server versions have grown in popularity, including within enterprises, and as a side-effect, the project has also spun off tools for developers, such as Launchpad, and has worked on desktop OSes tailored to particular needs, such as Edubuntu."

Shuttleworth is the head of Canonical, the commercial company that backs Ubuntu development.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/5384.html

Shuttleworth & Ubuntu discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=137702)

[Lydon]

A hall of shame has been launched for South Africa’s worst spammers


Spammers beware! South Africa’s Internet Service Provider Association (Ispa) is out to name and shame you.

Last week Ispa launched its first hall of shame report that lists the top five South African spammers.

On the list are Database Development, Dynamic Seminars, ILLUDER.com Marketing, James Munro and The Peer Group.

It appears that the hall of shame is working, because within hours of it being published one of the companies listed, ILLUDER.com, contacted Ispa to negotiate how it could be removed from the list.

Ispa’s general manager, Ant Brookes, said it will be releasing the hall of shame reports every two months.

“We want to keep local spammers on their toes,” he said. “There isn’t much South African ISPs can do about spam from the rest of the world, but the least we can do is make sure that South Africa is not contributing to the spam problem.”

He said South African-generated spam is minimal when considered in the context of the global picture.

“South African spam makes up less than 1% of the total spam people receive on their machines,” said Brookes.

He said this is little when you consider reports from Ispa’s members indicate that almost 85% of traffic on most busy mail servers is spam.

“It is positive that South Africa is not a significant source of spam.”

ILLUDER.com Marketing’s Wesley Peters said the company was quite upset to find out that it was included in the list and immediately contacted Ispa to rectify the problem.

“We discussed with them the reasons we were put on the list and they went through some guidelines with us and there were one or two little things that were getting us on the list,” said Peters.

Brookes said ILLUDER.com has agreed to get its database in order and has committed, in writing, to fixing the problem areas.

He said that ILLUDER’s approach was great because the main objective of the spammer’s hall of shame was to educate people.

“ILLUDER was good, they have bent over backwards and agreed to do whatever it takes to clear their name,” said Brookes. “They realized the damage being listed does to their brand.

“We will be signing an agreement with them next week that will bind them to their commitments.”

The spammer’s hall of shame has been well received by consumers, with many leaving comments on consumer activism website MyADSL.

These are some of the comments:

“Dynamic Seminars and Peer Group, they seem to get everywhere,” said Slootvreter.
“Agreed – I receive numerous of their junk mails, was not sure everyone else did as well until now,” said RPM. “Great initiative by Ispa, well done to them.”
“Job well done to Ispa, would be nice to have a top 10 and those IPs should be blocked,” said Rehd.

A user named Beri had a novel solution: “Spam the spammers I say.”

Brookes said Ispa decided spam would be a key focus area for the organization in 2008 and so it allocated some budget to its anti-spam working group to keep track of South African spammers.

Brookes said Ispa had designed a rigorous set of criteria to identify spam.

To make the hall of shame, a spammer must be reported three times by different Ispa members and at least two of these reports must be within a 30 day period.

Brookes said the content must be unsolicited and be promoting something.

“We have a spam reporting system in place that tracks all the spam that is reported by our members and then our working group combs the results looking for serial spammers,” he said.

Brookes said to test the spam hall of shame, Ispa ran internal reports from November last year until now.

The Peer Group’s Clive Price said it was proud of promoting education in South Africa, but obviously the company was not proud to be on the spammer’s list.

“If we could find a way of getting our message to the consumer in a less obtrusive was, we would,” said Price.

Price said The Peer Group relies on clients who enjoyed their training courses to recommend people to contact and because 90% of the feedback is excellent, the referrals are high.

“As soon as we get someone who wants to unsubscribe from their list, we do that immediately,” said Price. “We never try to keep them on the list.”

Attempts to contact Database Development and James Munro were unsuccessful and Dynamic Seminars’ Brian Jude failed to respond to the Mail & Guardian’s request for comment.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/5385.html

Spam discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=137749)

[Lydon]

Knott-Craig bids farewell to a solid, flourishing Vodacom


VODACOM CEO Alan Knott-Craig will leave his office for the last time this evening, as he retires after 15 years as the head of SA’s largest cellular network.

In an industry where CEOs come and go, Knott-Craig’s remarkable staying power has been achieved through a combination of vision, determination and innovation that has created a company serving 34-million customers in five countries, generating an annual revenue of R48,2bn and an operating profit of R12,5bn.

He could have done more but was thwarted by the stalemate in Vodacom’s shareholding, which remains unhappily divided between Telkom and the UK’s Vodacom. Achievements would also have been greater if SA had more liberal telecoms policies — a fact that has often seen Knott-Craig vociferously slate what he sees as incompetence.

A major problem was the protection of Telkom, which forced other operators to lease their backbone infrastructure from Telkom instead of building their own. That and clashes over handset subsidies and spectrum allocation provoked him to say that the industry would fare better if the regulators stayed at home rather than went to work each day.

Yesterday Knott-Craig said he would still work for Vodacom as a consultant until March.

“Hopefully, they won’t need any consulting because they know what they are doing. If they don’t know what they are doing by now, they’ve got problems,” he quipped.

He may accept a board position or two, but his main ambition is to write more books and indulge in photography. His new book of bird photographs made its debut this week.

The most memorable part of his career was making cellphones a tool for consumers rather than just for businesses, he said.

That included selling handsets through retail outlets and advertising that targeted ordinary people, not business users.

He also established Vodaworld in 1998, the first cellular shopping mall in the southern hemisphere.

“We did a lot of things that were different from other cellphone companies. It could have gone belly-up but it was the right time and the right place,” he says. “We took a different approach and it worked and now it works for the whole world, and the world is better for it.”

The cellular industry now serves 3,7-billion users because people stopped trying to make cellphone a business tool and made it a personal tool.

The worst part has been fighting the regulations that stifle the industry in SA, he says.

“It’s been frustrating. That was negative stress, which is why I want to go. Positive stress is getting to grips with the competition, but negative stress is dealing with stupidity. We are not going forward at the rate we could have been.”

For the future, Knott-Craig sees Vodacom’s foray into television, radio and advertising on the cellphone as areas of highly profitable growth.

But he is not purely business oriented. One of the most gratifying experiences of the past 15 years has been Vodacom’s work as a powerful force for good in the communities where it operates, he says.

Last year Vodacom sponsored Smile Week, and Knott Craig watched an operation that allowed a seven-year-old boy born with a cleft palate to smile for the first time.

“It was one of the most moving moments of my life,” he says.

Irnest Kaplan, MD of Kaplan Equity Analysts, said Knott Craig is seen as the father of cellular in SA, building Vodacom from a small startup into a giant. He has made a huge contribution to the technology sector and SA at large, Kaplan says.

“I’ve always liked Alan's frank nature and his animated comments about the company and the industry. I have always found him to display a very deep knowledge about the industry and a strong passion for it.”

It was fairly rare in hi-tech circles for someone to lead an organisation through its entire development from infancy to maturity, and to keep many of the core senior team intact.

“Alan has led the organisation very well while having shareholders that often did not agree on major issues. This must have been extremely tough,” Kaplan says.

Former employee Nicholas Maweni, now the head of corporate affairs for rival operator Virgin Mobile, describes Knott Craig as a visionary leader deserving national recognition for his exceptional contributions in fields including nation building, business and the economy, science, medicine, technological motivation and community service.

Tomorrow the new CEO will be Pieter Uys, another 15-year Vodacom veteran who is now chief operating officer.

Uys is a solid, stable character with an infectious enthusiasm for technology and a clear vision of what needs doing next to drive further commercial growth.

Vodacom’s focus now is to play in every area of communications — a significant shift away from being a mobile-centric operator to providing communications infrastructure and services. That initiative was firmed up by the launch of Vodacom Business in February, driven by Uys to provide a wide range of services including data storage and protection as well as business software online.

Uys will also steer Vodacom through its ongoing R7,5bn black empowerment transformation and through a potential change of parent companies.

Telkom is debating whether to divest its 50% stake by selling 12,5% to Vodafone and distributing the remaining stake to its own shareholders.

There is no clarity yet on whether that will happen, but whatever the outcome, Knott Craig is happy to let younger hands take the strain.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5397.html

New Vodacom CEO - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=137854)

[Lydon]

Online tools set to help non-governmental organisations


Non-governmental organisations across sub-Saharan Africa are set to benefit from the launch of a new set of online tools designed specifically to help them use technology more efficiently and to coordinate their resources in finding solutions to common challenges.

NGOConnect Africa, launched at founding sponsor Microsoft’s South African headquarters today, will provide a one-stop shop for technology resources, knowledge-sharing, community-building and real-life examples for non-profit, non-governmental and community-based organisations across the region. It was born from two years of consultation with more than 400 such organisations in South Africa.

“Many NGOs often do not have access to the technologies that can make them more effective, efficient and sustainable in serving those at the margins of modern life,” said Dr Cheick Modibo Diarra, Microsoft’s chairman for Africa.

“Just as technology has improved efficiency and quality in the business world, NGOs can now experience these same benefits, allowing them to use their limited resources for higher value-add activities in achieving their goals.”

Kimber Dodge, the executive director of NGOConnect Africa, said the initiative is a practical implementation of the eighth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) – that of creating global partnerships for development, a core component being to provide access to information technology.

“Through technology, geographical gaps can be narrowed and relationships can be built between NGOs, the private sector and governments to jointly work on projects, incubate ideas and celebrate successes,” she said.

Whether a non-profit group is searching for access to software or interested in networking opportunities with other organizations working on similar projects, NGOConnect Africa offers the resources they need to achieve their goals. It’s a virtual workspace that is rich in technology resources, added Dodge.

“The goal is to help people make the connection between their needs and the ways to solve them using technology. It’s also easy to share best practices and case studies. Through NGOConnect Africa - and in partnership with other NGOs, NGO support organisations, government, private sector and others - issues such as education, youth development, the empowerment of women and sustainable employability can be tackled,” said Dodge.

NGOs attending the launch said the portal would increase their understanding about what technology could do for them, including key areas like management of data, attracting online donations, marketing, recruitment of volunteers, streamlining administration and communicating with their beneficiaries. More important was the opportunity to engage and exchange ideas with like-minded organisations in Africa.

John Thole of Edunova said the initiative represented a great opportunity to move forward from thought leadership to implementation.

“NGOConnect Africa can be used as a tool for virtual think tanks, but can also take thoughts to the next level through collaborative programme management online. We are very excited about this potential application in the education arena,” said Thole.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/General/5388.html

NGOConnect Africa discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=137835)

[Lydon]

Matsepe-Casaburri's appeal puts the value added network service (Vans) licensing process on hold


MINISTER of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri's last-minute decision to appeal the positive Altech ruling means regulator Icasa has again been forced to put its value added network service (Vans) licensing process on hold. That came in the same week some Vans were due to take possession of their shiny new licences - entitling them to build their own networks - following Icasa's decision not to appeal the ruling.

Although market talk suggested incumbents - including Telkom and Neotel - had put pressure on the Communications Ministry (and director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole in particular) to appeal the ruling, the operators naturally denied this. The fact is we'll probably never really know how it came about.

But one thing is for sure: the industry's fighting talk suggests it's not likely to take Matsepe-Casaburri's decision lying down. Altech wasn't yet in a position to comment officially. CEO Craig Venter was in the US last week and couldn't be reached. However, the group is due to release its results this week and Venter would presumably have to give some indication of its action plan at that time.

But Altech is believed to have held a "war council" discussion shortly after the news of the Minister's appeal, which was broken to the media even before the parties themselves had been notified.

ECN CEO John Holdsworth says it will join Altech and other industry players in a class action - going all the way to the Constitutional Court should that be necessary - to overturn the Minister's regressive step.

Holdsworth says the Minister and the department are "out of touch with the public mood and sentiment. If they think the industry will just sit back and take it, they're sadly mistaken. This is war."

Internet Solutions CEO Angus MacRobert is more pragmatic about the news. He says they fully anticipated the Minister would appeal. "We've come to expect it," he says. If the court allows the appeal, then MacRobert believes it could take up to a year before the matter is decided again.

Meanwhile, MacRobert says it must just try to understand the playing field and continue as it's done previously, building partnerships where necessary.

It's that uncertainty that unsettles the industry and deters potential foreign investment.

Irnest Kaplan, MD of Kaplan Equity Analysts, says that should the Minister's appeal succeed, it would be "quite a big step backwards". First, it reduced flexibility and the bargaining power of the alternate operators in negotiating the use of incumbent infrastructure. Second, "given the uncertainty it makes it difficult for them to plan and commit capital to initiatives that would ultimately improve the competitiveness of the sector. The appeal also introduces new delays, which are most unwelcome".

Huge Group CEO Anton Potgieter, who has also been vocal in his support of the positive ruling, says the ministry's policy of "managed liberalisation" had limited success thus far and there was "considerable merit" in allowing the industry to take the lead in addressing the high costs and limited services access in the sector.

Potgieter, and others such as Pinnacle CEO Arnold Fourie, say the real value of self-provision would have been in the small operators building last mile access niches in small communities.

Meanwhile, the department seems to think that only SA's large operators should have that right. Matsepe-Casaburri says she'll shortly issue an invitation to apply for a number of new I-ECNS licences, in accordance with the Electronic Communications Act (ECA).

While the ruling itself was 67 pages long, the leave to appeal document is only a few pages. The fact the judge's name was misspelled (as Justice Davies, instead of Davis) suggests it was hastily drafted.

Some believe the appeal is baseless and would either be thrown out or would fail. However, Werksmans director Kathleen Rice says it seems unlikely the appeal would be thrown out summarily, as there are some grounds that another judge could differ with Justice Davis's ruling. One of those is whether or not the Minister's policy directives amounted to administrative action (a direct order, as opposed to general guidance).

But what Rice does find problematic is the statement the Minister made to the media (via her spokesman, Joe Makhafola) in saying she planned to "expedite an amendment of the ECA to remove any ambiguity around managed liberalisation and to make it clear that value added network service (Vans) licensees aren't entitled to individual ECNS licences under licence conversion".

Rice says the only way the Minister could amend the Act is by saying licensees weren't entitled to conversion on equal terms, which in fact amounted to some form of expropriation.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5391.html

VANS licensing discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=137834)

[Lydon]

The Nepad e-schools satellite learning programme has linked less than 100 schools to the internet


The e-schools satellite learning programme, run by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad), has linked less than 100 schools in Africa to the internet.

The programme, first announced in 2003, aimed to connect more than 600,000 schools on the continent, and to internet-enable all African secondary schools within five years in all primary schools within a decade.

“The demo project is complete in nine countries: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda,” says Jeanne Meta of the Pretoria-based Nepad e-Africa commission, which overseas the project. “Six schools in each country have received at least 20 personal computers in a lab, training for both learners and teachers, administration connectivity, various educational software and other apparatus.”

The 54 schools also received health, agricultural and other materials for the benefit of the broader community.

Meta says: “Seven other countries have since joined the e-schools programme, bringing the number of schools participating to 96.” The schools – not all officially launched – are in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria and Senegal.

Nonetheless, says Meta, “Nepad e-schools initiative has been a catalyst.”

For example, earlier this year Cameroon education minister Louis Bapes signed an agreement with Microsoft and Advanced Micro Devices for a year-long e-schools demonstration project to accompany Cameroon’s 17 new multimedia centres.

The e-schools programme also gave generators to Bungulubia High School in rural Uganda and schools in Lesotho that were off the electricity grid. A school in Burkina Faso is the first to run its computers using solar panels.

Participating computer companies including Hewlett Packard, Oracle and Cisco Systems are apparently waiting for financial input from governments before proceeding.

The e-schools business plan prepared by project manager Katherine Getao was ratified several months ago and sponsors of the online education portal are being sought. But problems remain.

“The pilot projects may have created a very high level of expectation among the private sector that Nepad would drive the roll-out of large-scale technological infrastructure into schools across the continent,” says Neil Butcher, an educational technology consultant from South Africa.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5386.html

eSchools bandwidth discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=137888)

[Lydon]

Funding hiccup dims digital TV process


SEVERE funding challenges could result in many South Africans losing out on public digital television when state-owned signal carrier Sentech switches on its digital signal a November.

With just over a month left before Sentech’s digital terrestrial television (DTT) signal is due to go live, slow funding from government could hobble the process.

In its latest annual report, Sentech said it had received only R500-million for the roll- out of its DTT infrastructure and making set- top boxes available.

Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane, Sentech’s chief executive, said: “Our budget for the first two years was met by Treasury, but the current shortfall will limit the number of sites we will be able to switch over to on November 1.

“This is unfortunate, given the success of phases one and two.”

The company said the government had told it to consider alternative sources of funding, but it would not offer any suggestions.

Sentech’s MyWireless and Biznet offerings have proved dismal failures and will be phased out. This was despite the company getting a head-start on competitors such as iBurst.

DTT was one of the prerequisites for South Africa being awarded the 2010 World Cup.

It will allow broadcast signals to be compressed and more channels to be broadcast on the same bandwidth. Eight new video channels can be provided on the same bandwidth that one analogue offers.

From March this year, Sentech has been awaiting payment from the Treasury for phase three, which will cover infrastructure acquisition, commissioning of the network, and testing.

“The delay in publishing the digital migration policy has also added to the challenge of the project,” Mokone-Matabane said.

The company said it would still manage to ensure that the technology reached 80percent of South Africa by the time the World Cup kicks off.

But critics expressed less faith in the signal distributors. A survey by MyBroadband showed that out of the major telecoms companies in South Africa, consumers had least faith in Sentech thus casting doubts on its ability to meet the roll-out deadline.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5395.html

Digital TV discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=137887)

[p2bsa]

cross post from the Durban thread ... as per Lydon

Well according to them, Durban is going to be the first city to go online, they wouldnt be holding a conference & inviting overseas delegates to view our "smart city" design as first, if another city in the same country has one up and running already? That would just be dom :)
^^

There is live coverage of the SmartCity Conference on their official website... @ http://www.smartcityconference.co.za - this is also being beamed live via Durban's municipal broadband network to UKZN campuses...

VV
Below is some of the coverage (pre publicity) of the conference on the site

Durban’s SmartCity status set to be a reality

The transformation of the eThekwini Municipality’s fibre-optic network has been completed and is now a next-generation status meaning that the broadband network has reached a stage where it can be shared with businesses, schools, hospitals and tertiary institutions and residents at vastly reduced costs.

Durban is the only city in Africa to have reached this milestone and be in a position to provide users with affordable connectivity and low cost local phone calls.

This heartening news was conveyed to members of the press, the SmartCity forum and dignitaries from the eThekwini Municipality at a conference held on Thursday August 20 at SmartXchange.

Jacquie Subban Head of Geographic Information and Policy at the municipality said that ultimately the network will span all businesses and residents in the greater municipal area at huge cost savings at vastly improved speeds.

Ms Subban confirmed that the broadband network is now fully operational and the City has appointed Dimension Data as the service provider to manage the network.

“The City will now start wholesaling spare capacity - of which there is a huge surplus – and a rollout plan including costs and timing schedules will be announced at the SmartCity Conference and Exhibition to held at the Albert Luthuli ICC, Durban on October 1 and 2.

The announcement means that Durban is the first city in South Africa to have in place a truly functional “Next Generation” or “Carrier Class” network.

Whilst other cities in the country have talked copiously about similar projects that have received masses of press coverage, Durban has quietly carried on with creating the infrastructure and making it the reality that it is today.

Source: http://www.smartcityconference.co.za/Press.aspx#12
>>>>>>>>

Second Durban Smart City Expo Showcases Technology for the Benefit of Communities and Business in KZN

Johannesburg, South Africa, 11 September 2008 - Dimension Data, Africa’s leading technology solutions provider has invested significantly into the infrastructure for the Durban SmartCity initiative. It is a move that it hopes will allow the business communities within the eThekwini Metropolitan area to take advantage of some of the best and most advanced broadband technology solutions in Africa. This is the outcome of a strategy set out in 2005/06 to make eThekwini a smart city utilising the best-of-breed technology solutions.

Having completed the rollout of its next-generation network in June this year eThekwini Municipality is in a position to provide services benefitting communities, businesses and service delivery agencies including the emergency services. These solutions will be showcased at the 2008 SmartCity Conference and Expo taking place at the ICC, Durban on 1 - 2 October.

Not only will the Durban Smart City Initiative provide the city with advanced broadband technologies but it will be able to provide a host of converged communication offerings and leading edge services like broadband internet access and high definition video conferencing.

“Technology allows communities and businesses to do great things, bridge the digital divide and become a part of a global online community,” says Jay Reddy, Managing Director, Dimension Data KwaZulu-Natal. “As Africa’s leading provider of technology solutions Dimension Data in conjunction with eThekwini municipality are providing technology services and solutions that will allow businesses and communities within eThekwini to change the face of work and play as we know it.”

At the show this year, Dimension Data will be showcasing services and solutions which the businesses within the eThekwini region will be able to utilise via the eThekwini Next Generation Network (NGN) Carrier backbone. These services include real-time tracking through online video surveillance for small to medium businesses, the convergence of legacy land-based radio and IP telephony solutions allowing for better response in an emergency and high definition video conferencing which eliminates the need to travel to meetings and reduces costs substantially.

The fibre network spans the entire municipal area, stretching out to Umhlanga, Tongaat, Waterfall, Amazimtoti, KwaMashu, Chatsworth and Umlazi, as well as the southern industrial core.

“eThekwini is the first municipality in SA to reach this milestone of providing the business community with affordable connectivity and as leaders in the field of enabling Africans through technology, Dimension Data hopes to position KwaZulu-Natal as a business hub able to rival Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa,” concludes Reddy.

Source: http://www.smartcityconference.co.za/Press.aspx#17

[Lydon]

Thanks for posting :)

[p2bsa]

Cross post from the Durban thread... Great ICT news!

Big broadband news on Pg1 nogal!
It's finally launched!!!!:banana:

Metroconnect is here!
Way to go Durban - SA's first SmartCity!

Durban is streaking ahead ... to SmartCity status
October 03 2008 at 10:54AM

By Suren Naidoo

DURBAN'S launch of its broadband service, dubbed eThekwini Metroconnect, means the city is speeding ahead to become the first "smart city" on the African continent by selling spare broadband capacity on its extensive optic fibre network to business, and ultimately residents, at drastically reduced rates.

The launch at the SmartCity Conference and Exhibition at the International Convention Centre on Thursday marked a watershed moment in the history of broadband communication in South Africa.

The announcement by Jacquie Subban, head of geographic information and policy in the eThekwini Municipality, comes after the city revealed in August that it had appointed technology giant Dimension Data to manage its optic fibre network, following the network's upgrade to "Carrier Class" or "Next Generation" status.

'The city would wholesale broadband
capacity at R1 766 per megabyte per second'

Subban said the initiative aimed to roll out broadband communication at significantly lower costs for business and residents, covering much of the municipal area. This would lower the cost of doing business in Durban, increase living standards and attract investment.

"We opted for what we call an open service provider model, where eThekwini Metroconnect is available at wholesale to licensed internet service providers, content providers and selected public sector entities like universities.

"It will be bandwidth-rich, available to service providers from 512kbps (kilobytes per second) going up to 1 000mps (megabytes per second). These ISPs will in turn retail to businesses and residents. Contracts will be entered into between the eThekwini Municipality and the service provider directly, with Dimension Data acting as the service agent," said Subban.

She said the city would wholesale broadband capacity at R1 766 per megabyte per second in bandwidth to service providers, which was substantially lower than tele- communications operators. The city had intentionally publicised its wholesale rate so that business and residents could choose the ISP with the most competitive retail rates.

"We have chosen to just work in the wholesale space as a start and as a neutral player. Our price is not based on competing with telecommunications operators but to provide low-cost broadband, contributing to the socio-economic growth of our city.

'With increased demand, rates will no doubt
come down but we also have to at least recoup our costs'

"With increased demand, rates will no doubt come down but we also have to at least recoup our costs. This is not meant to be a money-spinner for the municipality. We will also have different cost structures for organisations such as NGOs and the public sector."

She said the broadband plan would enable all key tourism areas in the city - including the new stadium - to have free wireless internet hotspots for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

* This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on October 03, 2008
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=vn20081003054224357C648205;
http://www.themercury.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20081003054224357C648205

[Lydon]

Altech vows to fight back


Communications minister, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, recently announced that she would appeal the recent value added network services (VANS) judgment where it was ruled that VANS may self-provide.
According to the official notice-to-appeal document, Matsepe-Casaburri’s legal team argues that Justice Davies “ventured into the area of policy making contrary to section 5 read with 96 of the Telecommunications Act which empower the Minister to make regulations.”

They further argue that the effect of the judgment is that he has defined the scope and content of the "managed liberalisation policy" which is greatly contested in the market. “This is a violation of the separation of powers principle,” the document reads.

The full notice to appeal includes the following points:

The Learned Judge erred in setting aside paragraph 3 of the Ministerial Policies and Policy Directions.
The Learned Judge should have only set aside paragraph 3 of the Ministerial Policies and Policy Directions to the extent that that paragraph purported to regulate the conversion process (Chapter 15).
The Learned Judge erred in setting aside paragraph 3 to the extent that that paragraph regulated new licences.
The Learned Judge should have set aside paragraph 3 to the extent it was ultra vires and should have referred it back to the third respondent to rectify the unlawful part.
The Learned Judge erred in declaring that the applicant was entitled to self provide its own telecommunication facilities with effect from 1 February 2005.
The Learned Judge erred in making the above declaration without declaring the May 2005 regulations unlawful. Infact, to this extent, the Learned Judge ventured into the area of policy making contrary to section 5 read with 96 of the Telecommunications Act which empower the Minister to make regulations. The effect of the Learned Judge’s Judgment in that he has defined the scope and content of the “managed liberalisation policy” which is greatly contested in the market. This is a violation of the separation of powers principle.
The Learned Judge erred in finding that the Ministerial Policies and Policy Directions were administrative action in terms of PAJA. Consequently, the Learned Judge erred in granting the extension of the period in terms of section 9(1) of PAJA.”
Matsepe-Casaburri was criticised by both consumers and industry for her decision to appeal this ruling which looked set to liberalise the telecommunications industry.

It was even suggested by some commentators that she may be protecting vested interests, including the DoC’s Telkom shareholding, by holding competition back with her "managed liberalisation" policy.

Altech fights back

Altech is, however, not taking this appeal lying down. The company said yesterday that it would oppose the minister’s appeal.

According to a Fin24 article by Belinda Anderson "Altech - and the industry – may even proceed with a class action suit against her ‘unconstitutional’ attempt to change the Electronic Communications Act."

“[Altech CEO Craig] Venter reiterated that Altech's fight was a matter of principle, the outcome of which could positively impact the entire industry and give it greater clarity.”

ICASA has yet again put the licence conversion process on hold awaiting the result of Matsepe-Casaburri’s appeal.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5424.html

Altech court case discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138213)

[Lydon]

You may have to pay R 1 000 for license exemption


You may have to pay R 1000.00 for a license exemption application for your Wi-Fi hotspot or LAN unless ICASA changes its mind regarding how to handle these “small electronic communications networks” under the new Electronic Communications Act (ECA).

Under the ECA private electronic communications networks used principally for or integrally related to the internal operations of the network owner are license exempt. This also holds for small electronic communications networks such as local area networks.

As most wireless hotspots functions within the 2.4 GHz frequency band, which is also license exempt under ICASA’s Frequency Licence Exemption Regulations, 2008, it should be easy to deduce that a person or company can roll out such a LAN without any need to contact ICASA.

The regulations state that ‘a small electronic communications network must use frequencies which are licence exempt in accordance with the radio frequency spectrum licence exemption regulations and technical parameters falling within the limits prescribed therein.’

This is however a snag. ICASA has indicated that those wishing to provide a service or operate a network under a licence exemption must apply for this privilege using ‘Form M’. According to the draft general license fees regulations ‘Notifications of License Exemptions’ will cost R 1 000.00.

The main problem comes in that the current draft regulations on licensing do not clearly differentiate between commercial and private wireless networks, effectively forcing all wireless networks to apply for license exemption.

This may not be the intention of ICASA, but the implication of these regulations may be far reaching and costly.

According to Dominic Cull of Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions most observers believe that it is impractical and unnecessary to require applications for licence exemptions, especially with small ECNs such as LANs and WLANs which have little direct socio-economic impact and no implications for the management of frequency spectrum.

“This has been raised with ICASA and hopefully a compromise position can be reached which recognizes ICASA’s mandate to regulate those selling to consumers, as would be the case with PECNs reselling spare capacity and resellers of ECS,” said Cull.

Cull adds that the application process for Wi-Fi hotspot exemption will clog up an already strained ICASA system.

“Clearly such an arrangement would be both unworkable and unenforceable, but as the process of rewriting old Telecoms Act regulations is completed I am sure these wrinkles will be ironed out”, he concluded.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Wireless/5431.html

WiFi hotspot legality discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138258)

[Lydon]

Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri explains why she is appealing the VANS ruling


COMMUNICATIONS Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri has spoken up to explain why she is appealing against a legal verdict that promises to revolutionise the telecommunications industry, insisting that she is not opposed to greater competition.

The minister is challenging a verdict won by technology company Altech that grants about 300 voice and data carriers the right to build their own networks. Her decision to appeal has been widely condemned, particularly since the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) accepted the verdict and has already invited companies to collect their new licences.

Matsepe-Casaburri was not challenging the verdict because she was against liberalisation, said her spokesman, Joe Makhafola. But the introduction of new operators must be clearly regulated to ensure stability and growth for the sector and to protect the public interest. She was appealing to protect SA’s policy of “managed liberalisation”, which the minister says is in line with international best practices.

The Electronics Communications Act says Icasa can only accept applications for Individual Electronic Communications Network Service licences (I-ECNS) after the minister issues a policy directive. Last year she directed Icasa to consider some applications for the new licences.

In her application for leave to appeal, Matsepe-Casaburri said the judge erred in setting aside some ministerial policies and erred in declaring that Altech was entitled to build its own network. He had also ventured into the area of policy making, which should be left to the minister.

The minister also plans to amend the act to stipulate that operators are not automatically entitled to a licence that lets them build their own network. Without that licence they are forced to lease bandwidth from dominant operators such as Telkom.

However, Altech CEO Craig Venter said Icasa would be in contempt of court if it did not issue the new licences, since the pending appeal did not nullify the existing verdict. The judgment was emphatically in Altech’s favour and the judge showed a clear grasp of the issues set out in 1000 pages of submissions, so he doubted the appeal would be successful.

“The market needs to be liberalised and for the past two years since the act was implemented nothing has happened in terms of issuing licences. Liberalisation is important in creating employment and for giving consumers the ultimate benefit of lower prices,” Venter said.

The minister’s decision to keep fighting has been condemned by the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party. The CEO of Electronic Communications Networks (ECN), John Holdsworth, has also slated it as “a thinly disguised attempt to protect the incumbent operators from competition”.

The minister was out of touch with the mood of the industry and consumer frustrations, he said. “In a well-functioning market, competing suppliers are incentivised to reduce costs, pass reductions to consumers and innovate with new products and services,” he said. “The regulatory roadblock we’ve been living with has prevented this from happening in SA, and the ultimate loser is the long-suffering consumer, who has to put up with dysfunctional suppliers and unacceptably high prices.”

It was also exceedingly worrying that the government would seek to change an act when it lost a court case, he said. “If the minister’s appeal is successful, ECN will call for an industry-wide class action, which we’ll take right up to the Constitutional Court if necessary,” he said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5437.html

VANS Ruling appeal discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138314)

[Lydon]

SA’s newly licensed pay-TV operators could soon face competition from an unlikely source


SA’s newly licensed pay-TV operators could soon face competition from an unlikely source: telecommunications companies that deliver video-on-demand services to people’s homes without having to be licensed first by the broadcasting industry regulator.

Two companies, Safika-controlled Goal Technology Solutions (GTS) and Dimension Data’s Internet Solutions, have designs on delivering affordable TV services to SA households. Neither will need a pay-TV licence from the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) as the service, which is delivered on demand, is not technically defined as broadcasting.

GTS is hoping to launch its service in January, ahead of new services from new pay-TV licensees Telkom Media, On Digital Media and WOWtv.

GTS, which is best known for providing Internet and telephone services using power lines, has signed an agreement with a content supplier — an “aggregator” that buys content from international suppliers such as Warner Bros and NBC — and has also identified an international supplier, based in Israel, for its set-top boxes.

Though GTS’s network is still tiny — it expects it will have only 8 000 homes connected to its network by January from 1 000 now — CEO Adrian Maguire is confident that the company will see exponential growth in the next few years.

Funding difficulties have held it back. Its principal backer, Rwandan-born telecom billionaire Miko Rwayitare, passed away last year, leaving GTS in financial limbo. But it recently sold a 65% stake to Safika and is proceeding with its network roll-out.

Maguire won’t provide details of the cash injection Safika has provided, but says it is not as much as Rwayitare had put on the table. So GTS plans to seek additional financing when it needs to. “Safika has put a good commitment on the table to ensure we can survive and grow sufficiently for quite a while,” he says.

GTS’s biggest network deployment so far is in Heidelberg in Gauteng, where it is using powerline communications technology to provide residents with telephony and Internet services. It is also busy with a project in East London which will see it running fibre to about 18 000 homes. And it is deploying fibre cables, power line communications technology and wireless systems in the Nelspruit city centre, which is poorly served by telecom companies.

Maguire says GTS’s funding problems mean progress has been slow but he is confident the company will pass between 350 000 and 500 000 homes by 2010 — that’s homes that are able to connect to GTS. That’s down from an initial forecast of reaching 1m homes by then. “We are six months to a year behind schedule.”

GTS is promising the country’s first true triple-play bundle of broadband, telephony and pay-TV. The video service will have between 600 and 1 000 new movies a month, all of which can be watched on demand — the content will be streamed over cable (either fibre or power lines) from a media server located somewhere in the subscriber’s neighbourhood.

The cost of the service will be similar to the price of blockbuster movie rentals at a video store, Maguire says. “It will cost considerably less than DStv but we are not competing with DStv,” he says. “We are going to have different content and a different type of viewer. We won’t have the latest sport, for example.”

Though unable to compete in sport, GTS will give MultiChoice, which operates DStv, a run for its money in other forms of entertainment. Maguire says GTS will have access to the latest US movies the moment they come off the big screen — well before they arrive in video stores in SA, and often times before they even hit the local cinema circuit.

He describes the set-top box GTS will use as a “PVR on steroids”, referring to MultiChoice’s personal video recorder that allows subscribers to record shows for later playback and pause live TV.

Once GTS subscribers elect to rent a blockbuster movie, they’ll have 48 hours in which to watch it before it becomes unavailable again. They will also have the option to purchase it and download it to the hard drive on their set-top boxes.

There will also be a range of older movies available to watch at any time for a fixed monthly subscription fee.

Content will be protected using conditional access and digital rights management techniques — content suppliers insist on this to prevent digital piracy — but Maguire says movies and television shows will be able to be transferred to mobile devices such as PlayStation Portables for personal use.

GTS is promising a wide range of movies, documentaries, series and soaps. The company is also planning to offer adult content, though this will only be available for a premium. “We will have other bouquets available at nominal cost.”

No high-definition content is planned at launch, though the set-top box is capable of delivering it. HD content will be available by 2010, Maguire promises.

Its head start in video-on-demand services may be short lived, though. Internet Solutions (IS) is itching to get into the game, but has so far been frustrated by problems with Telkom’s network.

Unlike GTS, which will provide video over its own network, IS has to use Telkom’s infrastructure. Khetan Gajjar, new business development manager at IS, says the company has been looking to provide video on demand for more than two years already. But Telkom, he says, is unable to guarantee a minimum throughput on its lines — it needs a consistent 1,5Mbit/s.

The quality of the copper in the ground and the distance from its exchanges to people’s homes are the biggest problems, Gajjar says.

IS had hoped that Telkom would have addressed the problem given that it is a majority shareholder in Telkom Media, which also plans to offer video-on-demand services. But Telkom’s attention has since shifted from pay-TV — it is planning to sell its controlling stake in Telkom Media — to building a wireless network to compete with the mobile operators.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5443.html

Pay-TV discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138384)

[Lydon]

TELKOM has confirmed its plan to roll out a new wireless network


TELKOM has confirmed its plan to roll out a new wireless network with the prime aim of winning more business from small and medium-sized enterprises.

Telkom’s relatively high prices for voice and data calls were inflating the day-to-day running costs for business clients, its chief of operations Motlatsi Nzeku admitted yesterday. It was also “acutely aware” of losing customers to the mobile networks as its own services were made unreliable because of copper cable theft, he said.

To resolve those problems a new network will be rolled out using W CDMA (wideband code division multiple access), a cost-effective wireless technology that offers high speed data and video downloads as well as voice calls. One aim is to give small companies more affordable data packages for high-speed internet access.

The technology will initially provide voice and data services to fixed- line phones, but later this year Telkom will introduce new national numbers to use on cellphones, pitching it head-to-head with the cellular players. That is necessary as Telkom may soon shed its 50% stake in Vodacom, at a time when operators need to offer a blend of fixed and mobile services. The new network being installed by Huawei would also let it provide a wider range of products and services, Nzeku said.

CEO Reuben September said the move was part of an effort to grow its income. “Our revenues have been under significant pressure from declining voice services due to competition and are further affected by copper cable theft.”

The services are being tested with customers in Gauteng, where 38 base stations have been erected. More than 200 should be operating by March next year.

Telkom is looking to outsource the running of all its networks, in a controversial plan invoking a threat of strike action by unions representing many of its 26000 staff. It expects to save R1,3bn a year by outsourcing network maintenance, and negotiations are under way with several bidders.

Yesterday an insider said Amdocs had already been quietly selected to handle the billing and customer relationship management systems without the task being put out to tender. Amdocs is the world’s largest billing and customer support software company by sales, and already supports some of Telkom’s existing systems. Telkom would give Amdocs a new contract worth about $70m to provide and maintain some IT systems for the wireless network, he said. But procurement managers had been instructed to encourage a second company to bid for the outsourcing tender so the process did not look like a done deal, he claimed.

The insider also alleged that HP had been identified as a preferred supplier for hardware to run some of the systems, and some rivals were not bidding as they realised they would not win.

Telkom executive for capability management Theo Hess said the new network would be built and operated by Huawei, a market leader in the technology, and was not part of the general outsourcing deal. Huawei was also supplying the hardware for that network.

Telkom was still awaiting proposals from several bidders to manage its other services, and no one entity was favoured.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5446.html

Telkom wireless discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138417)

[Lydon]

Kulula Connect aims to shake up SA’s cell phone market


Kulula yesterday launched a website where consumers can browse, build and buy a cell phone package from the three network operators.

Powered by Altech Autopage Cellular, kulula connect offers online shoppers a choice of the latest phones and 3G modems and the ability to tailor their packages from Cell C, MTN and Vodacom to suit their needs.

According to Kulula Altech’s buying power translates into a wide range of packages online, backed up by a full-service call centre and delivery within less than a week.

“Life is complicated enough and buying an affordable phone shouldn’t be,” says Gidon Novick, CEO of kulula, South Africa’s largest online retailer.

“As a trusted Internet brand we’re adding cell phones, as well as wireless Internet access, to the kulula online experience.”

“This unique website makes cellular shopping more accessible and simple,” explains Stephen Blewett, MD of Altech Autopage Cellular.

“Set up to offer cellular and broadband solutions to suit consumers’ different needs, all products available on kulula connect are backed up by Altech Autopage Cellular’s reliable service.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5454.html

Kulula Connect discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138450)

[romanSA]

University of KwaZulu-Natal Physicists Make History in Establishing Durban as the World's First Quantum City
Last update: 3:00 a.m. EDT Oct. 6, 2008

DURBAN, South Africa, October 6, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Physicists at the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Quantum Technology are all set to install a quantum communication security solutionover the eThekwini Municipality fibre-optic network infrastructure propelling the City of Durban to become the world's first Quantum City. Based on the eThekwini SmartCity initiative, the QuantumCity project aims to provide the City with the capabilities to offer quantum security solutions to users of their recently installed fibre-optic network. The quantum network will officially be showcased at the SmartCity Conference and Expo to be held at the Albert Luthuli ICC in Durban between 1-2 October 2008.

Durban is the SmartCity of Africa with a complete fibre-optic network able to share its broadband access withpublic and private sectors. However the global drive towards communication security has prompted it to leap into the Quantum regime. Professor Francesco Petruccione, the head of the research group, says, "The QuantumCity project facilitates theroll out of quantum communication security solutions to other clients of the eThekwini Municipal network creating the first Quantum City in the World". The security of quantum cryptography is based on the physical principles of quantum mechanics, rather than on the algorithmic procedures of classical cryptography.

The QuantumCity project is led by the Centre for Quantum Technology and the Innovation Company of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in partnership with idQuantique and Senetas Corporation, leading companies in quantum and classical encryption. The project is funded by the eThekwini Municipality and the Innovation Fund (an instrument of the National Research Foundation). City Manager, Dr Michael Sutcliffe, believes that quantum information and communication technology will not only boost the transformation of the Municipality into a high-tech information-driven organization, but also turn Durban into an incubator for future technologies.The quantum network consists of four nodes in a Municipal Area Network star configuration linking municipal buildings in Pinetown, Westville and Cato Manor.

The Centre for Quantum Technology is a Research Group of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.

http://quantum.ukzn.ac.za/quantum-city

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/university-kwazulu-natal-physicists-make-history/story.aspx?guid=%7B9A942C74-E094-485A-B567-DADA51DE67C2%7D&dist=hppr

[Lydon]

Industry developments to benefit the telecoms end-user


Judging by all the recent changes in the telecommunications sector, the South African market is in for some interesting developments as lines of business are blurred and new revenue streams are created. This is the view of Andy Brauer, Chief Technology Officer at Business Connexion.

The move by Tata Communications to increase its shareholding in Neotel is perceived to be very positive. “This will allow for an escalation in decision-making within the board, which should lead to aggressive momentum in the rolling out of infrastructure.”

From a consumer perspective, Neotel’s entry into the market has been seen as being relatively cautious, almost as they have been testing the water. “I believe with the change in shareholding, their moves will become a lot bolder and that we can look forward to increased penetration.”

Brauer believes the models Neotel is introducing to the market from an enterprise solutions perspective, clearly shows that they have an understanding of the convergence market as they are providing a blend of IT and telecommunications services.

“This becomes a critical success factor for them, as Telkom is still following a silo approach and will have to actively review their business models and infrastructure.”

He believes that Telkom is currently under a false sense of security. “They have Neotel on one side and Vodacom on the other, which means they are in for some serious competition.”

Telkom is currently running multiple networks compared to Neotel’s one network and the basic math points to where the benefits lie.

“The cost of running one network is considerably lower, which means that the benefit will eventually filter down to the customer level.”

He believes that a further thorn in Telkom’s side is the fact that there are now four providers, including Telkom, that can self-provide infrastructure – and the race is clearly on to get fiber into the ground.

Consolidation in the ICT sector will continue as traditional IT companies move into telecoms and vice versa. The introduction of media companies into the mix changes the dynamic even further.

Brauer believes that Internet service providers will be impacted most. “Network providers are moving into a new era of providing blended services, which means that the need for separate service providers is diminishing,” he says.

“We are already seeing some of these service providers being integrated into telcos, and I believe this is a trend that will continue.”

The biggest winners at the end of the day will be the end customer – both from a consumer and enterprise perspective.

With the telecoms players investing in fiber, bandwidth in the country should increase dramatically, giving customers the ability to consume content such as high definition television.

“In addition to the benefit of higher bandwidth and the availability of blended services, we will eventually see a decrease in costs,” Brauer concludes.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5474.html

Telecoms changes discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138755)

[Lydon]

Vodacom to buy the rest of iBurst? Altech to buy MWEB?


The South African telecommunications market is becoming more competitive but at the same time there is a great deal of consolidation taking place. Over the past two years many acquisitions were made by bigger players, both taking out competitors and expanding their product offerings.

A few high profile deals include Vox Telecom buying Orion, Storm, @lantic, and ABSA Internet, Vodacom buying Gateway Communications and MTN is finalising its acquisition of Verizon Business SA.

This leaves only a few large players – like MWEB, Internet Solutions and Vox Telecom – to take on the incumbents: Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Neotel. MWEB is however likely to be purchased by a large company soon.

Speaking at the BMI-T Telecoms conference in Midrand, MTN Network Solutions’ Mike Brierly said that building infrastructure was a must to ensure MWEB’s value proposition, something which Naspers may not want to fund. The logical choice was therefore to sell this ISP business unit, and unsurprisingly Naspers announced earlier this year that it will auction MWEB.

According to an industry source, Altech is the front runner to acquire MWEB. Vodacom Business, Vox Telecom and Dimension Data/Internet Solutions have apparently all pulled out of the process after it reached a point where they felt that MWEB is overvalued.

Brierly confirmed Altech’s status as the front runner to acquire MWEB – a deal which he expects to be announced soon. Brierly also predicts that Vodacom will acquire the rest of iBurst/WBS, a company in which they already own a stake.

Who will survive?

The increased consolidation in the local telecommunications market begs the question: who will dominate this space in coming years?

Brierly said that he expects Vodacom, MTN, Telkom and Neotel to dominate the market over the next few years. He also feels that Cell C, Internet Solutions and MWEB may become significant players and should be closely watched.

This view is shared by Dark Fibre Africa’s executive director, Richard Came, who said that he expected only three or four large telecoms players to be around by 2012. Vodacom Business’ Ermano Quartero is less lenient and feels that there will only be place for three big telecoms companies in South Africa.

This however does not mean that there is no place for smaller players. Brierly predicts that small companies, typically ISPs, targeting niche markets will continue to flourish. Although they are expected to only capture a small percentage of the market, they will remain profitable and have opportunities to grow.

Richard Came further expects new type on entrants in the telecoms space like metros, e-commerce players, telemetry providers, large enterprise and industry VANS.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5452.html

Telecoms changes - who do you think will survive? (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138754)

[Lydon]

South Africa will be three times smarter from this week.

A supercomputer, able to make 14 trillion calculations per second, has been donated to the country’s scientific fraternity for use in the fight against HIV/Aids and other human ills.

Dubbed Blue Gene, the R17-million brainbox is the biggest computer in Africa.

It will be switched on in Cape Town and made available to African institutions free of charge for use in advanced scientific projects.

The project owes its existence to IBM’s Global Innovation Outlook process, which seeks to build scientific and technical capability in Africa.

Sean McLean, IBM’s spokesperson in South Africa, said the supercomputer was best suited to research involving huge amounts of data that needed rapid processing.

“ It would be nice to have an African researcher ... stand up in the near future and claim a breakthrough in an Africa-specific problem,” said McLean.

Blue Gene will be kept at the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) in Cape Town, set up by the Department of Science and Technology, and managed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

The computer will also help scientists model the effects of climate change.

“There have been advances in the rest of the world in getting climate-change data, but (Africa hasn’ t) done much ,” said CHPC director Dr Happy Sithole.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Hardware/5479.html

Blue Gene discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138897)

[Lydon]

Fibre to the home will exceed expectations says Dark Fibre Africa


Fibre to the home has become the default broadband connection in countries such as Japan and South Korea, but in South Africa this remains only a dream. This dream may however be closer than many people think if Dark Fibre Africa director Richard Came is to be believed.

Speaking at the recent BMI-T Telecoms Emergence Forum in Midrand, Came said that he expects fibre to the home to arrive in South Africa much sooner than expected.

Came predicts that many residential properties and businesses will have fibre to the premise (FTTX) connections in two years’ time. He expects that densely populated areas such as gated villages and business parks will experience the benefits of FTTX first.

Came predicts that FTTX will far exceed current expectations in terms of take up.

The fastest current broadband connection in South Africa is a 4Mbps ADSL service offered by Telkom. Telkom is upgrading its network to support ADSL 2+, but users should only expect a 10Mbps DSL service by 2011.

This means that fibre to the home may actually arrive before Telkom is offering clients an ADSL 2+ service, effectively leap-frogging the ADSL upgrade.

Neotel has previously said that they plan FTTX services in the next few years, providing consumers with "true broadband" speeds. The company is already equipping many business premises with fibre access points, something which will be extended to residential properties in future.

Angus Hay, Neotel’s chief technology officer, said that he would not be surprised to see fibre to the home within the next two years, but made it clear that this should not be taken as a planned launch date of residential fibre services by Neotel.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Broadband/5453.html

Fibre to the home discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138896)

[Lydon]

A long running dispute between MTN and Cell C reaches final stages


ICASA will hold hearings tomorrow focusing on the interpretation of the definition of an underserviced area. These hearings form part of a long running dispute between MTN and Cell C regarding the implications of Cell C’s community service telephones (CST) rollout.

In terms of Cell C’s licence, issued on 25 June 2001, Cell C assumed an obligation to rollout 52 000 community service telephones throughout South Africa, within a stipulated time period providing that the rollout must be concluded within 7 years of the Commercial date of its licence.

Cell C met this target in the latter part of 2006, two years before the required deadline in Cell C’s licence.These community service telephones (CSTs) are only entitled to be located in community centres or in areas defined in Cell C’s licence as “under serviced areas”.

The basis for the dispute which persists between MTN and Cell C arises in relation to the interconnection agreement concluded between those parties. MTN alleges that, since certain of Cell C’s CSTs do not (according to MTN) comply with the definitional requirements in Cell C’s licence, they are not to be regarded as CSTs for interconnect purposes.

As the interconnect rate for CSTs are significantly less that the standard interconnect rate, MTN feels that Cell C has overstepped the mark in the rollout of its CSTs in many affluent areas, capitalizing on the lower rates associated with CST calls.

On the back of that contention, MTN has, for some time, refused to make payment to Cell C of any interconnect fees, and has simultaneously contended that Cell C is indebted to MTN in an amount far in excess of what it owes Cell C.

Tomorrow’s hearings at the ICASA offices in Sandton will see MTN and Cell C trying to defend their positions. The hearings start at 09:00 in the ICASA presentation room at Pin Mill Farm, Sandton.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5489.html

MTN versus Cell C - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=138996)

[Lydon]

Shareholders are getting increasingly agitated with the lack of leadership in the company (Telkom)


Inefficient management in any business is probably one of the biggest downside risks for minority shareholders as this normally leads to the inefficient allocation of capital and in the long run, a destruction of shareholder wealth.

It is therefore no wonder that Telkom shareholders are getting increasingly agitated with the lack of leadership in the company and the inability to either do a deal or get on with business.

Telkom's monopoly in the telecommunications industry is coming under increasing pressure and decisive management action is required to steer the company through what is likely to be very tough times. The arrival of cellular operators and a second network operator have and will make the company's life more difficult in future. Telkom needs to act. Fast!

Telkom has disseminated around 15 statements via the stock exchange news service (SENS) over the past 12 months, which dealt with announcements concerning corporate action in one form or another.

Both Reuben September, CEO of Telkom LTD, South Africa's first fixed-line operator and Alan Knott-Craig, ex-CEO of Vodacom, South Africa's largest cellular operator have publicly been stating that their respective companies needed to part ways in order to reach their stated strategies. Telkom owns 50% of Vodacom, the remainder being in Vodafone's hands, a British based cellular provider.

The past 12 months have seen numerous parties approach the fixed line operator regarding a potential deal. MTN and Oger Telecom, Cell C's parent, were independently involved in talks with Telkom in the latter part of 2007, which did not come to fruition. In a meeting with Oger Telecom's CEO in Istanbul, their rationale for a deal made sense, at least to an outsider.

Another potential deal announced on SENS in mid 2008, involving a consortium comprising Mvelaphanda Holdings, Och-Ziff Capital Management and other funders was never expected to fly. This has been confirmed in an announcement released on 18 September 2008, which stated that discussions have been suspended due to current market conditions and pricing considerations.

In 2007, in conjunction with MTN's proposal to buy Telkom's fixed line business, Vodafone has widely been anticipated to buy the Telkom stake in Vodacom. Vodafone currently own half of Vodacom. The market's previous expectation of Vodafone buying the entire stake has steadily been reducing and now they are only expected to acquire 12.5% of Vodacom at a price of R18.75bn.

This values the whole of Vodacom at R150bn or R144 per Telkom share. Telkom are then expected to unbundle their remaining Vodacom stake to shareholders and list it on the JSE. A sale taking place at the implied R150bn for Vodacom, however, seems unlikely given current market conditions and judging from recent share price action. Vodacom's recent BEE deal valued Vodacom's South African operations at R120bn or R115 per Telkom share.

Considering Telkom is now trading at R110 a share, Yebu Yethu BEE participants will likely be most perturbed as the Telkom market price includes all its operations - its fixed line business, all its Vodacom and its African operations. The implication is that the BEE deal overvalued Vodacom. Alternatively of course, one could argue that the market is undervaluing Telkom. The fixed line business in its own right is expected to produce a profit of R4.3bn, an equivalent of R8.23 per share in financial 2009.

One can only speculate why an announcement which seems imminent is taking forever. The logical impediment, given the crucial strategic rationale for doing this transaction for all parties involved, is one of price. The entire emerging markets telecoms universe has come under extreme pressure of late (see graph), a fact Vodafone would be well aware of.

Our view though is that Telkom management needs to decide whether they want to do deals or focus on running the business. Whatever route they take, maximizing shareholder value should be the ultimate objective.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5478.html

Telkom discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139040)

[Lydon]

HD PVR users are probably tearing out their hair by now


IF YOU, like your reporter, is a television and technology addict then you probably already own the new high-definition personal video recorder (HD PVR) from MultiChoice. And you're probably tearing out your hair by now, like your reporter.

Pay-TV operator MultiChoice (JSE-listed Naspers owns MultiChoice and Finweek) still enjoys a monopoly in the South African market thanks to a slow start from rivals such as Telkom Media (Telkom is looking for someone to buy out the venture) and On Digital Media (targeting the low end of the market) and rushed the HD PVR out in time for the Beijing Olympics. Though some software and other bugs were to be expected, a month later glitches and user frustration continue to pile up.

Installation, particularly if you own an existing standard definition PVR and you want to integrate them, is a complex operation. Your reporter struggled for more than a week and three different visits by accredited installers before he was able to record programmes. Tip: make sure every last detail and function of the DStv service and the PVRs are checked before allowing installers to leave your premises.

To be able to continue using your SD PVR or Dualview decoder, MultiChoice has come up with a technology called XtraView. The only thing is, XtraView isn't ready to be implemented and instead the company is employing a workaround. You're billed for both the SD and HD PVR service and then one is reversed. That solution works fine. You now have the ability to record three different programmes (one on the SD and two on the HD) and watch three (two on the SD and one on the HD) all at the same time.

All that comes at no extra monthly cost, except for R2 500 upfront for the HD decoder itself. What's more, the HD PVR has double the recording capacity of the SD version and can record 50 hours of HD content. No more deleting shows before you get the chance to watch them (or much less of it, anyway) and no more recording conflicts.

Just as it's impossible to go back to "normal" TV once you've got satellite or revert to standard pay-TV once you've worked a PVR, it's impossible to enjoy standard-definition TV as much once you've seen the image quality of HD. It's much better than DVD and in wide-screen format.

At last, those of us who bought an HD LCD or Plasma in advance can really get the most out of it. And the suggested connection between decoder and your TV - called HDMI - actually also improves the quality of SD broadcast and is capable of surround sound. The HD PVR also comes with a channel favourite setting so you don't have to surf the many channels you're never likely to watch.

TV nirvana, right? Not quite. Not yet, anyway: the HD PVR is still in dire need of bug fixes. Here's a partial list of them, in no particular order of their capacity to induce user frustration:

* When the unit goes into standby it won't wake up unless you reboot by pulling the plug. You can get around that by setting the HD PVR to never go into standby - but that will shorten its lifespan.

* The very handy 10 second rewind skip function doesn't work on the HD PVR and the fast forward and rewind functions work a bit like that on a VCR (remember those?): unless you have great thumb timing it's almost impossible to find the spot you're looking for.

* The electronic programme guide (EPG) - a source of irritation for as long as DStv has been available - has gone from worse to worser. To missing or no information and incorrect scheduling (thought you recorded Late Night with Conan O'Brian; you get Asia Business Report instead) have been added as a new bug. It takes tens of very long seconds to update itself: scheduling your week's viewing is now a teeth-grinder. And that's if in the end it's recorded at all. The ability to record a whole series is still not possible and setting time-based recordings isn't just a schlep but comes with its own bugs. There's no search function on the EPG.

* The buffer that makes it possible to pause and rewind live TV is emptied every time you switch channels. Don't think of quickly seeing what's on elsewhere when you're in the middle of watching the Ryder Cup, for example. Despite the ability to block programmes with Parental Control, some channels are now only available with a "Family" soundtrack. Try watching BBC Entertainment late at night and follow a comedy show with loud beeps every few minutes without becoming annoyed. Audio is inconsistent across channels.

Your reporter suggests holding off on going HD until the technology is ready for prime time and more HD content becomes available. Another HD PVR with Dualview will be available from Altech's UEC subsidiary before year-end.

UEC has made millions of decoders for MultiChoice. Perhaps it will be the one to get. If you can't wait use the HD PVR to watch the one HD channel that's available and use the SD PVR for everything else.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Hardware/5392.html

HD PVR Discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139100)

[Lydon]

Will Telkom start a price war with its mobile services?


Telkom has often come under fire for its high fixed-line broadband prices and monopolistic practices, but when it comes to mobile services it is the new market entrant rather than the incumbent.

Business Day recently reported that Telkom was well aware that its “relatively high prices for voice and data calls were inflating the day-to-day running costs for business clients…” Copper theft posed another problem which meant that many current fixed line customers moved their business to the mobile operators.

Telkom is investing R1.7billion in its own wireless telephony and mobile broadband network. Telkom will be offering both broadband data services and semi-mobile telephony services over its W-CDMA (3G/HSDPA) network.

Telkom is already trialing this service with customers in Gauteng where it has 38 base stations covering many parts of the province. The company is planning to erect another 200 base stations over the next few months.

The new network is built in partnership with Chinese company Huawei, the same provider used by WBS/Vodacom for part of its WiMax network.

End users are expected to be furnished with a Huawei B970 modem, similar to the wireless gateway recently launched by MTN. This Huawei B970 comes standard with four Ethernet ports, an analogue phone port and a place for an external antenna. This device is a perfect companion for a home or small office.

Aggressive pricing

Early speculation suggests that Telkom will compete aggressively on price when it comes to its semi-mobile data and voice services, undercutting the incumbent cellular operators.

Telkom plans to provide small companies with more affordable data packages for high-speed internet access. These packages may include 3G/HSDPA data packages of up to 10GB per month with prices far below the current Vodacom and MTN pricing.

If this speculation is indeed accurate Vodacom and MTN will be forced to act if they want to continue growing their market share in the SMME market where Telkom has coverage.

It is not unlikely that Telkom’s entrance into the mobile/wireless data market, coupled with Neotel’s growing coverage and marketing campaigns, will spark a price war last experienced earlier this year when Vodacom cut its mobile data prices by up to 65%.

Telkom’s current Vodacom shareholder agreement prohibits it from providing fully mobile services, something which may change if it sells part of its stake to Vodafone. If Telkom is allowed to provide fully mobile voice and data services we may see a fourth mobile operator which is willing to compete more aggressively on price.

Competition in the cellular market may therefore come from an unlikely source in the forum of Telkom – doing consumers a favour by breaking the current trend where Vodacom, MTN and Cell C price many of their products at very similar rates to avoid continual price wars.

Telkom is expected to launch its fixed voice and fixed-mobile data services this month.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5493.html

Telkom mobile discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139099)

[Lydon]

TELKOM has finally announced that it will sell off a 15 percent stake in Vodacom


TELKOM has finally announced that it will sell off a 15 percent stake in Vodacom to the UK-based Vodafone Group in a R22.5-billion deal.

Late yesterday, Telkom issued a notice on the Stock Exchange News Service (Sens), saying the proposed deal was subject to a number of conditions.

These included Telkom unbundling its remaining 35 percent stake in the cellphone giant to shareholders “pursuant to a listing of Vodacom on the main board of the JSE Limited”.

Telkom and Vodafone each own 50 percent of Vodacom.

The Sens announcement said the deal had received the backing of Telkom’s board, as well as the South African government, which is Telkom’s major shareholder with a 38percent stake.

Telkom announced that it is still operating under a cautionary and urged shareholders to “exercise caution” when dealing in shares.

But SA’s political crisis, including the removal of ex-president Thabo Mbeki, has seen the deal placed on the backburner as it waited government approval.

Senior members of the ANC have also been keen for the sale to be stopped, especially after a resolution was taken at its Polokwane conference in December to halt all major government transactions until elections next year.

The deal will see Vodafone pay Telkom R22.5-billion “less the attributable net debt of Vodacom at the time of signature and will be settled in cash”.

According to insiders, negotiations were fast-tracked after interest was shown in the Vodacom stake by a Nigerian telecoms giant.

Cortex analyst and trader Lavan Gopaul said the deal was far more “complex” than it appeared, especially in the current global economic crisis.

He said Vodacom had always been a “clumsy and restrictive asset” for Telkom.

The deal was scheduled to be rubber-stamped by government after receiving the backing of Mbeki, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and former minister of public enterprises Alec Erwin.

However, Mbeki was axed the very week it was to be endorsed.

Telkom has been trading under a cautionary since June on the back of its negotiations with Vodafone, as well as a Mvelaphanda Holdings- led consortium to buy its fixed-line assets for a reputed R90-billion.

But negotiations with Mvelaphanda were “suspended” in mid- September because of “market conditions and pricing considerations”, as well as due to the global credit crunch, according to a statement released to the JSE.

Telkom’s share value took a severe dent during August and it went into even sharper decline after the US banking group Lehman Brothers went belly up recently.

In fact, since talks with Mvelaphanda began in June, Telkom’s share price has plummeted by in excess of 24.2 percent.

Yesterday’s Sens announcement said the Vodafone deal was subject to a number of conditions.

The conditions included “the successful negotiation and agreement of final transaction documents, shareholder approval and the receipt of certain regulatory approvals”.

The announcement added that shareholders in “certain jurisdictions outside of South Africa may not be entitled to receive any Vodacom shares that Telkom unbundles if such receipt would require registration or approval under local securities laws”.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5529.html

Telkom-Vodacom-Vodafone deal discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139495)

[Lydon]

Efforts by the Competition Commission to fine Telkom R3,7bn for anti competitive behaviour have been revived


EFFORTS by the Competition Commission to fine Telkom R3,7bn for anti competitive behaviour have been revived, with the commission winning the right to appeal against a court ruling that temporarily halted its campaign.

The move once again raises Telkom’s risk of being heavily punished for behaviour designed to quash rival internet service providers. Telkom still hopes to avoid the fine, however, as the operator was simultaneously granted permission to cross-appeal by the Supreme Court of Appeal yesterday.

The verdict at the heart of the battle came in June, when the Pretoria High Court ruled that the commission could not refer a complaint against Telkom to the Competition Tribunal, sinking its chance of hitting Telkom with the proposed R3,7bn fine.

If the court of appeal upholds that verdict, Telkom will escape the fine. But if it rules that the commission can refer complaints against Telkom to the tribunal, the tribunal will reinvestigate the allegations and decide whether Telkom’s market-crushing tactics deserves the fine.

Accusations that Telkom deliberately abused its dominance to stifle competition were lodged by internet service providers in 2002. They accused Telkom of refusing to supply them with bandwidth and charging them more for its facilities than it charged its own internet division.

The commission agreed that Telkom had abused its dominance, recommended the huge fine, and referred the case to the tribunal for ratification. But Telkom derailed the process by asking the court to rule that the competition authorities had no jurisdiction over the telecoms sector, since the territory is overseen by the Independent Communications Authority of SA .

The court’s ruling was a blow to the internet industry, which hoped to see Telkom punished for practices that had stifled the sector for years.

Telkom won by arguing that the evidence against it was biased, as it was supplied by a research centre that used people employed by companies making the complaints.

Telkom also said the commission was too late in referring the complaint to the tribunal.

The commission won leave to appeal yesterday after arguing that the evidence it used was not biased.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5532.html

Telkom - CompCom discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139550)

[Lydon]

Few anticipate SA's new political regime will herald any big changes in telecoms policy


FEW ANTICIPATE South Africa's new political regime will herald any significant changes in telecommunications policy. In fact, some believe the post-Mbeki regime could adopt an even more interventionist stance. Africa Analysis telecoms analyst Dobek Pater says while the Kgalema Motlanthe/Jacob Zuma regime may have more socialist leanings, telecoms policy is already conservative and the pace of liberalisation slow. So Pater expects to see more of the same.

That view is reinforced by the recent decision by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri - who surprisingly outlasted the Mbeki-era but isn't expected to form part of the post-election Cabinet - to appeal the High Court ruling that found in favour of Altech, giving value-added network service providers (Vans) the right to self-provide.

That positive ruling had instilled a new optimism among sector participants, as it upped the pace of liberalisation overnight but which MatsepeCasaburri quickly culled.

Pater says the appeal was indicative Government was trying to play a greater role than diluting its powers and passing these on to regulator Icasa and the market. Few analysts were surprised by her decision but most were disappointed and are rooting for the appeal to fail.

Kaplan Equity Analysts' MD Irnest Kaplan says whether Vans can or can't self-provide isn't a major issue. More important is the spirit with regard to the whole liberalisation process: the appeal represents a backlash against faster liberalisation. Kaplan is concerned about the message the continued uncertainty sends to foreign investors.

Gartner principal analyst Will Hahn says although he hadn't expected the ruling would lead to hundreds of new operators, it was more about dangling a carrot. "If players can build their own networks it's a way to bring the operators to the table to negotiate."

Hahn says there was a "great deal of disappointment" at the minister's decision. He says SA's telecoms sector is over-regulated and, in addition, there's a long, drawn-out litigation process. Telecoms is an enabler of economic growth, so whatever the Communications Ministry can do to "clear the fog" currently hanging over the market would be good for the players, investors and consumers.

But more importantly for Hahn than any change in government or ministers is the fact that African telecoms regimes have agreed to an open access model for the various submarine optic fibre cable projects. That, plus the fact SA has undertaken to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup - a "can't fail" project - points to positive changes ahead.

BMI-Tech MD Denis Smit expects to see increased Government participation in the telecoms sector - probably through provincial and municipal broadband networks. But as long as such projects go ahead with private sector participation, there's no reason they can't succeed, he says.

Although the Communications Minister kept her job, another key ministry in the tele-coms sector, the Department of Public Enterprises, saw Infraco pioneer Alec Erwin stepping down and being replaced by Brigitte Mabandla. But few anticipate Government would change its stance on Infraco.

Smit says he believes Infraco is actually a positive intervention, as it should release the bottleneck in getting bandwidth capacity from undersea cables landing in SA - of which there will soon be a number - up to Johannesburg.

While Government's stance on some telco assets is understood, its relationship with Telkom is murkier - mired in the conflict of interest of profit maximisation versus bringing down prices.

Word has it the Mbeki Cabinet signed off on Telkom's proposed sale of its 50% stake in Vodacom to Vodafone. It's unclear whether the new regime would question that as selling off its crown jewels to foreigners or whether shareholders would approve the deal.

Although the alternative prospect - a proposal by the Mowana consortium to merge Telkom's 50% of Vodacom with Nigeria's Globacom - could build a pan-African giant, the jury's out on its success. Renaissance Specialist Fund Managers' Khulekani Dlamini says capital is a difficult hurdle.

"Where would they (Mowana) source the capital?" Dlamini doesn't see any major telecoms policy changes coming from the new Government. He believes new participants will jockey for positions of benefit, in the same way former participants such as Andile Ngcaba did. And that could lead to delays in implementation.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5536.html

Telecoms discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139660)

[Lydon]

SA's cities cable up for in-house telecommunications


No more blackouts. This will be one of the bonuses when SA's four major cities - Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini (Durban) and Cape Town - deploy their own telecommunications networks within the next year.

The networks will cost ratepayers about R1bn. It is part of the cities' new strategy to run their municipalities like businesses.

Not only will the telecom s networks give cities more connectivity, they will allow municipalities to better manage electricity supply. James Masonganye, Tshwane's director of operations & systems management, says networks will give cities capacity to remotely reduce how much each household consumes rather than blacking out whole blocks during load shedding.

eThekwini is following a similar approach. "We will be able to shut down hot water geysers during nonpeak times," says Jacquie Subban, the municipality's head of geographic information and policy.

The network will also provide more accurate data on households' electricity consumption, since meter readings can be done remotely.

Controlling electricity consumption is only one advantage of municipalities running their own networks.

They will be able to control traffic lights and put CCTV cameras in remote locations as well, says Andre Stelzner, a support systems manager at the City of Cape Town.

Municipalities also plan to deploy infrastructure, such as wireless hotspots, for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

Why are SA cities deploying their own networks when SA has an abundance of telecom operators that are increasingly boosting infrastructure?

Municipalities say telecom companies might offer services in and around business centres, but have been slow to put infrastructure in remote areas.

Cape Town, for instance, wants to connect all its libraries to the Internet. However, it has found there are few, if any, high-speed data lines in its less-affluent suburbs.

Other municipalities have also encountered capacity constraints in trying to deploy similar services.

"We needed a network, so we built one," is how Subban puts it.

Having their own networks substantially reduces municipal phone bills. eThekwini, for example, saved about R15m on telecom costs in 2006.

Telecom companies also benefit from municipal networks as they can buy spare capacity instead of building their own networks. Neotel is negotiating with Tshwane over using its network.

Municipalities are quick to point out that they do not want to steal business from the private sector, but rather be facilitators for economic growth.

Subban says eThekwini's network, which is already operational, will soon be made available for business and educational institutions.

Allowing companies access to these networks at wholesales rates can boost the local economy. Research conducted by UCT economist Prof Barry Standish projects that the investment in Cape Town's network could result in a cumulative contribution to the city's GDP of R5,7bn by 2012.

"Telecommunications infrastructure has become basic economic infrastructure, as important as roads and water systems," says Leon van Wyk, head of the city's telecommunications department.

Even Telkom, which previously argued against the concept of municipalities running networks, supports the concept. It was one of the companies short-listed by Johannesburg for the deployment of its high-speed R500m network.

Tshwane's fibre network is already in place and it is in the process of finalising its tender requirements for a broadband wireless network. The winner will install equipment at its own cost and share revenue with the city for services it provides to the public.

Cape Town is just weeks away from issuing a tender for the design of its R300m fibre network and expects to have it operational early next year.

The development of municipal networks has for a long time been driven by bureaucrats, but they are beginning to get traction because politicians are seeing the benefits.

They see it as a chance to cement their legacy in the way the Gautrain has done for former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5547.html

Municipal broadband discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139834)

[Lydon]

Shareholders of Telkom are in for a windfall if Telkom decides to pay a special dividend


Shareholders of Telkom are in for a massive windfall if the fixed-line network operator decides to pay a special dividend from the proceeds of selling its 15 percent stake in Vodacom.

Experts say the shareholders are likely to demand the dividend.

Last week Telkom said Vodafone had offered R22.5 billion for the stake. The deal was supported by Telkom's board and its largest shareholder, the government.

Vodafone and Telkom each own 50 percent of Vodacom.

However, when the deal was signed, the offered price excluded Vodacom's net debt, Telkom said.

The debt is estimated to be more than R5 billion. This might include Vodacom's acquisition in August of Gateway Communications for $700 million (R6.6 billion at the current exchange rate).

Richard Ferguson, a telecoms analyst at Nomura in London, said on Friday that Telkom might use the money to invest in its expansion plans, which included building a wireless network.

"This is going to be a big issue," he said. The government "aims to promote economic and social goals and might demand the dividends [to invest in government-led projects]".

Ferguson added that if a compromise was reached, Telkom might divide the proceeds - in other words, pay special dividends and invest in expansion projects.

Khulekani Dlamini, a portfolio manager at Renaissance Specialist Fund Managers, said special dividends were likely to cause consternation: Telkom management would seek to keep most of the capital, while shareholders would argue for the cash to be returned to them so they could deploy it as they saw fit.

"In this environment, there are a lot of good quality companies that are trading cheap, and most shareholders would prefer not to have the cash reinvested on their behalf, but rather to have it paid out so they can make their own investment decisions," Dlamini said.

Shares of Telkom were 0.18 percent higher at R108.50 on Friday.

If Telkom uses the remainder, estimated at R17.5 billion, to pay special dividends, the three major shareholders could walk away with a combined R10 billion.

The government might receive R6.8 billion and the Public Investment Corporation could take about R2.6 billion, while empowerment group Elephant Consortium could pocket more than R1 billion.

The transaction would increase Vodafone's stake to 65 percent, while the remaining 35 percent would be unbundled to Telkom shareholders.

This will result in the listing of Vodacom on the JSE.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5552.html

Telkom shareholding discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139876)

[Lydon]

Parting of the ways heralds telecoms shake-up


TELKOM and Vodacom are both poised for a major shake-up in their strategies and future growth as the two operators prepare to part ways.

Exactly what their futures hold is uncertain, since the deal for Telkom to shed its 50% stake in Vodacom presents various challenges and opportunities that may gel only once the deed is done.

The move itself is simple: Telkom will sell 15% to Vodacom’s joint-owner, Vodafone, for R22,5bn, and unbundle the remaining 35% to Telkom shareholders by listing Vodacom on the JSE.

Telkom shareholders will also pocket a tasty special dividend from the cash that Vodafone hands over for the 15%.

Then the fun begins. Telkom will need to reinvent itself quickly, while Vodacom will need to thrash out new rules of engagement once it is majority owned by a British parent.

Telkom shares gained almost 5% last week to hit R113,50 as investors jumped in. In contrast, London-listed Vodafone dived 16% to £1.

Initially Vodafone offered R18,75bn for 12,5% of Vodacom, so the price it is prepared to pay has not slipped despite tumbling stock markets, possibly making its shareholders suspect it is overpaying.

Kaplan Equity Analysts MD Irnest Kaplan says this is “a hell of a good deal” for Telkom. “It’s the same price they were talking about some time ago despite changing world markets that have seen the price of everything fall.”

He doubts the deal triggered the slump in Vodafone’s shares, however. “I wouldn’t imagine this caused the 16% drop because its share price is orders of magnitude bigger than this deal.”

Imara SP Reid analyst Steve Meintjes rates Telkom a buy at up to R158. “We think this is an adequate control premium and Telkom should accept it with alacrity,” he says.

Vodacom’s new CEO, Pieter Uys, will not comment yet, saying it is an issue for shareholders rather than managers until its conclusion. But he keenly supports the move, and has made it a priority to lobby Vodafone to allow Vodacom the freedom to grow in Africa.

Many African countries have cellphone penetration rates of less than 10%, which Uys is eager to tackle.

Yet the existing shareholder agreement bars Vodacom from expanding further into Africa so Vodafone can tackle the territory itself. That shackle has forced Vodacom to watch in envy as its rival MTN conquered Africa.

It is not clear yet whether Vodacom will be free to expand once it is majority-owned by Vodafone, which is already active in Egypt, Ghana and Kenya. It may prefer to continue alone, because if Vodacom takes the lead, 35% of its profits will have to be handed over to its minority shareholders.

Vodafone’s foreign expansion was driven by its former CEO, Arun Sarin, who resigned in July and was succeeded by Vittorio Colao. Encouragingly, Sarin said he would use Vodacom as a springboard to acquire other African operators, and that may remain the policy under Colao as he continues to push into Africa and Asia.

One reason Vodafone may be willing to seal this deal at what has become a generous premium could be to move quickly on African expansion. As market values tumble, it could use Vodacom to acquire more African operators at discounted prices.

Once the deal is done, Telkom will lack a mobile partner at a time when operators must offer a blend of fixed and mobile voice and data services to remain relevant. So Telkom has already begun preparing to offer cellphone calls and high-speed internet access by rolling out a new wireless network in urban areas.

With Vodacom stripped out, Telkom will be left holding SA’s national fixed line infrastructure, some voice and data operations in Nigeria and Africa Online, an internet service provider in nine countries.

The black investment group Mvelaphanda has offered to buy Telkom and take over those assets, but the talks were shelved last month when market values became a volatile moving target.

Some analysts believe Telkom needs fresh owners to guide its evolution, and yearn to see it taken over. Kaplan is less critical, saying: “I don’t think Telkom needs someone to take it over.” A better option may be to form loose partnerships with other players to help it navigate the converging environment.

“It can build its own wireless network or form some kind of partnership with MTN, Cell C or even Vodacom on a commercial agreement. I don’t think it needs a mobile operator to be in bed with it, but it would help if it had a partner with a big wireless infrastructure.”

The decision will depend on which markets Telkom wants to serve. If it

As for Vodafone, the deal will give it 65% of “an attractive asset” with strong positions in SA, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania. Vodafone already serves 260 million customers, making it the world’s second most prolific operator after China Mobile with 370-million.

Its bid to gain control of Vodacom remains subject to a number of conditions. But all three companies have worked on this for so long and with such determination that the chance of it failing is negligible.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5550.html

Telecoms shake-up discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=139914)

[Lydon]

Two cellular giants do battle in advertising arena


Vodacom and MTN are fierce competitors, battling for market share both in South Africa and the rest of Africa. Marketing campaigns form a big part of this battle with the two cellular providers trying to outdo each other in the advertising space.

It was inevitable that the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) would become part of this battle with the competitors complaining about potential false advertising from their adversary.

The latest ASA battle sees Vodacom asking for sanctions against MTN for what it calls MTN's "flagrant disregard for the provisions of the Code of Advertising Practice".

According to Vodacom, MTN should be ordered to publish "a summarised version of the ruling as proposed by the ASA, in all or some of the media in which the advertising complained of appeared or media considered appropriate by the ASA".

Vodacom cited the following rulings made against MTN:

Adverse rulings

1) MTN 3G HSDPA / Vodacom / 8755 (8 May 2007)
2) MTN Push to Talk / Vodacom / 9169 (21 June 2007)

Voluntary undertakings

3) MTN Free SMS / M Lunau / (30 July 2007)
4) MTN International Roaming / P Luel / 9479 (26 July 2007)
5) MTN HTC TYTN / M Perry / 9308 (19 July 2007)

Breach rulings

6) MTN / J Coetzee & Vodacom / 10749 / 10629 (17 April 2008)
7) MTN Push to Talk / Vodacom / 9169 (10 September 2007)

MTN replied saying that the ASA should consider this case on its own facts, and that the previous rulings listed by Vodacom should have no bearing on this matter.

MTN further said that the sanctions suggested by Vodacom would be too harsh and not proportionate to MTN's conduct. This type of punishment, MTN argued, should be reserved for circumstances where a party has shown a continuous pattern of intentionally disregarding and ignoring the provisions of the Code and the Directorate rulings.

According to the ASA the breach in the current matter is the only breach of an existing ruling in the last 12 months. The advertising body added that MTN took immediate steps to withdraw the advertisement and clarified the oversight.

"This does not suggest that the respondent deliberately ignored the previous rulings," the ASA said.

The ASA concluded that while it is entitled to impose sanctions on MTN it feels that it is not appropriate at this time.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5562.html

Vodacom versus MTN discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=140039)

[Lydon]

e.tv has expressed unhappiness about receiving only one additional channel


The free-to-air television channel e.tv has expressed unhappiness about receiving only one additional channel in the proposed new channel allocation on the digital platform, which was announced by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) last week.

The draft regulations for broadcasting digital migration proposes an allocation of eight new channels to broadcasters.

The public broadcaster, the SABC, would be allocated four new channels - three would be for new regional channels and one would be an addition to SABC3, which is classified as a commercial station. One channel would be for community broadcasting, and SABC1 and SABC2 would not be allocated any additional channels.

Robert Nkuna, Icasa's councillor, said the authority proposed one channel for each commercial station, hence e.tv was allocated one, M-Net two - because it has two channels - and SABC3 one.

He added that the regulator would engage with the industry on the proposed allocation of channels.

But e.tv's spokesperson, Vasili Vass, said the company was "not happy" with the draft regulations and the manner in which the channels had been allocated.

The free-to-air channel, owned by JSE-listed Hosken Consolidated Investments, would not comment further until it makes its written submission to Icasa.

"e.tv has every confidence in Icasa's consultative process around the draft regulations and will work with the body to find the correct solution," he said.

The allocations are in preparation for the introduction of digital broadcasting. The move to the digital platform will start in November and the analogue system is expected to be switched off in November 2011.

However, the production industry has expressed mixed feelings about the new channels. They say that there should be commitment from the broadcasters to invest more money in local production - including documentaries, corporate videos and dramas - which is estimated to be worth about R3 billion.

Indra Lanerolle, the spokesperson for the Independent Producers Association, said: "Producers are ready to increase their output to meet new demand from new digital channels. But in spite of the looming deadlines, we are yet to hear from the broadcasters and especially the SABC, what their intentions for the new channels are.".

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5566.html

eTV discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=140163)

[Lydon]

Vodacom SA selects Alcatel-Lucent’s UMTS/HSPA technology for 3G network


Alcatel-Lucent today announced that it has reached agreement on a Euro 22 million deal with Vodacom SA, the South African mobile operator equally owned by Telkom SA and Vodafone Group, to design, build and deploy an upgrade of its existing 3G network.

Upon commercial launch, this network upgrade and modernization project will boost the capacity and coverage of Vodacom’s network and will enable the growing wireless carrier to offer its customers a wide range of advanced next-generation mobile broadband services in future.

The enhanced 3G wireless network, based on Alcatel-Lucent UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and HSDPA/HSUPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access/High Speed Uplink Packet Access) technologies, will improve Vodacom’s network voice-quality and data-transmission speeds, while further strengthening indoor coverage in urban areas.

Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will supply Vodacom with its industry-leading UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), based on an evolving multi-standard radio access solution, including radio network controllers, node B base stations and a flexible wireless network management system.

Alcatel-Lucent’s radio access solution enables mobile operators such as Vodacom to support several standards, including GSM, EDGE and EDGE+ and to introduce new technologies in future, including W-CDMA, HSPA, HSPA+ and LTE with a smooth evolution path to meet their market needs.

Alcatel-Lucent will also provide a suite of services in conjunction with this expansion contract, including installation, commissioning, program management, on-site training, network rollout and integration.

“Achieving an improved end-user experience with superior mobile voice and high-speed mobile broadband data services is our key objective in expanding our 3G network,” said Andries Delport, Executive Director – Engineering and Technology, Vodacom South Africa.

“Continuing to provide our customers with the highest quality of innovative mobile services requires us to partner with a reliable partner such as Alcatel-Lucent, which has a proven track-record in technology innovation. This project will also provide us with the ability to leverage the investment we have in our existing network to meet the growing demand of our customers for advanced services.”

Alcatel-Lucent’s W-CDMA/HSPA wireless solutions will support Vodacom’s efforts to simplify network operations, reduce operating expenses while enabling the operator to deliver advanced, next-generation mobile services to its customers.

“With our strong local presence, project management skills and our state-of-the-art wireless technology, we are confident that we will be able to ensure that Vodacom will be able to reach its goal of providing its customers some of the most advanced mobile services available on the African continent, through the upgrade and modernization of their 3G network,” said Vincenzo Nesci, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in the Middle East and Africa.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5576.html

Vodacom HSPA network discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=140162)

[Lydon]

Vodacom gears up for Africa with Vodafone fully in charge


VODACOM will shake off its shackles and venture fully into Africa once the deal to sell a controlling stake to Vodafone proves successful.

Over the past one and a half years Vodacom has consistently voiced its desire to see a change in the company’s shareholders agreement that restricted it from going into certain parts of Africa.

Vodafone has operations in seven African countries besides South Africa. Five of these operations are Vodacom subsidiaries, a company in which Vodafone has a non-controlling 50percent share.

The shareholders’ agreement prevents Vodacom from competing directly with Vodafone and vice versa.

Vodacom has been held back from venturing too far north while main South African competitor MTN has managed to cover significant markets on the continent and beyond to the Middle East.

This issue was a source of great frustration for retired chief executive Alan Knott-Craig, who made a point of mentioning it during financial report gatherings.

Denis Smit, research director of ICT research firm BMI-T, said: “Going into Africa is definitely on the cards, and the shareholder’s agreement will go away. Vodacom is very capable and will surely look for expansion.”

Vodafone made an offer to buy a 15 percent stake from Telkom’s 50 percent portion with an expected unbundling and listing of the remaining 35 percent on the JSE.

Vodafone has tabled a R22.5-billion offer for the stake , a figure that analysts agree is fair.

Vodacom would not comment on the impact that ongoing talks to sell Telkom to the Mvelaphanda group would have on the Vodafone deal.

A Johannesburg-based ICT broker said: “There’s going to be some uncertainty, but the outcome will all depend on Vodafone’s strategy.

“I would guess that the entire process will be concluded by the first quarter of next year, and I doubt that Vodafone will be making any changes to the current management structure.”

Though the deal might seem unpatriotic, the broker said: “It’s a good deal. With one controlling shareholder, the company will perform better even if there is a smaller stake.”

Analysts agree Vodafone will most likely rebrand Vodacom to suit its global Vodafone branding and consumers will not be significantly affected.

Dopek Pater, partner at Africa Analysis, said: “We might see it listed as Vodafone SA. Vodafone usually wants to take the same strategy, which is to have uniform operations globally, but it won’t be too much of an obtrusion.”

Nielson agreed: “Over time they will change the brand [from Vodacom’s green and blue image to Vodafone’s red markings], but it will happen on a phased approach.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5579.html

Vodacom discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=140214)

[Lydon]

Government intervention has scuppered Telkom's plans to rush through a restructuring programme

The decision to suspend the restructuring process comes very late in the day as Telkom was already considering proposals from vendors.

The Communication Workers' Union's national treasurer, Richard Poulton, told the Mail & Guardian that the Department of Communications (DOC) called Telkom to insist that it engages with the unions, which had declared a dispute over the restructuring programme.

"Government facilitated the talks," said Poulton. "They called Telkom and they called us and told us to rectify this matter."

One Telkom insider said the call may have come from Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, but the ministry denied this and told the M&G to contact the DOC.

Telkom refused to comment on the DOC's intervention, stating that its relationship with government is "privileged".

The M&G understands that the restructuring programme, which Telkom has dubbed its "capability management project", has been hotly contested and that a complaint about the programme was lodged with the JSE.

The JSE's Doug Doel told the M&G that it had received a complaint and as a result had sent Telkom a query.

Telkom said it had clarified issues with the JSE and had pointed out that it was not in contravention of the listings requirements.

Doel said the JSE was satisfied with Telkom's response.

Telkom is looking to outsource a substantial amount of its core business, including its network operations, information operations and Telkom Direct shops.

Poulton said the proposed deal would affect about 70% of Telkom's staff, which number about 25 000.

Poulton said the restructuring process will proceed only in April 2009, when the unions have had a chance to present a counter proposal.

"We are not saying there shouldn't be any restructuring, but it doesn't have to take the form of outsourcing. That is our problem -- the outsourcing."

Poulton said the restructuring process is likely to begin only in the second half of 2009, after negotiations have been concluded.

Telkom said in its statement the decision to defer implementation of the capability management project until April 2009 has been agreed upon by the unions and itself and that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the unions.

Attempts to contact the DOC for comment were unsuccessful.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5658.html

Telkom outsourcing discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=141243)

[Lydon]

New service allows Vodacom subscribers to directly leave voice message

Vodacom recently launched their Short Voice Service (SVS), the first of its kind in SA. SVS allows Vodacom customers to dial another mobile directly and leave a voice message.

The service was designed to be much simpler to use than voice mail and is available to all subscribers, not only those with voice mail enabled.

To leave a SVS, Vodacom subscribers must dial the Vodacom number preceded by a #. For example #-082-123-45678

The recipient will receive a SMS notifying him or her of the SVS and he/she can then dial #99 to retrieve it. The service is free till 9th of November after which it will be charged at R0.90 per SVS message.

Only a small percentage of subscribers configure and use their voice mail and this service was specifically designed to allow a wider audience access to voice messaging.

The service is initially only suitable for Vodacom to Vodacom subscribers.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5654.html

Discuss the Vodacom Short Voice Service (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=141170)

[Lydon]

Telkom has never been under the kind of pressure it is currently facing

Vodafone's R22,5-billion offer for a further 15% in Vodacom, which was announced late last week, has resulted in Moody's Investors Service placing Telkom's credit ratings under review for a possible downgrade.

At the same time Telkom is facing increased pressure from Neotel, the competitive enterprise and consumers services of which have enticed many valuable Telkom customers to jump ship, while mobile players like MTN and Vodacom are successfully taking it on in the broadband space, because of its inability to meet demand.

Add to this the fact that Telkom announced this week that its big restructuring programme, which would have seen its core business outsourced in an attempt to turn the tele coms giant into what management envisions would be a leaner, meaner fighting machine, has been suspended.

The decision to suspend the restructuring process comes very late in the day as Telkom was already considering bids from vendors.

The telco was looking to outsource a substantial amount of its core business, including its network operations, information operations and Telkom Direct shops.

It was expected that the deal would have affected 19 000 of Telkom's 26 000 staff, which obviously did not sit well with the unions.

"The unions have obviously brought some significant pressure to bear," said IDC telecoms analyst Richard Hurst. "Telkom will have to relook at how they are going to do this."

Telkom's statement said that the decision to defer the implementation of the capability management project until April 2009 has been agreed upon by the unions and itself and that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the unions.

After months of negotiations between Telkom and Vodafone, both 50% shareholders in Vodacom, a cautionary released by Telkom detailing the Vodafone offer seems to suggest that a deal is imminent, which is a significant development in the current global economic climate.

Telkom's cautionary details Vodafone's R22,5-billion offer, from which the attributable net debt of Vodacom at the time of signing would be deducted.

The cautionary stated that the deal was dependent on Telkom unbundling its remaining 35% stake in Vodacom to its shareholders, which would be followed by a listing of Vodacom on the main board of the JSE.

The cautionary also stated that the Telkom board and the South African government were supportive of the proposed transaction.

Moody's statement said the factors that influenced its decision include the "increasingly competitive environment" in which Telkom operates, the fact that the fixed-line business is already "under price and volume pressure" and the impact that the current economic climate will have on Telkom's ability to borrow money in the next two years for its capex and investment programme.

Moody's says the rating impact of the Vodacom disposal is vitally dependent on the final use of the proceeds and its likely future strategy with respect to its mobile business.

It is expected that a lot of pressure will be brought to bear on Telkom by shareholders who will want a significant dividend paid out from the Vodacom sale profits, but Telkom would want to retain as much of the R22,5-billion as possible to plough back into the company. Without the Vodacom cash cow, speculation is rife as to Telkom's future, with many suggesting that if it goes it alone in the mobile space it will find it tough going.

"This is a brave move if it materialises, as the market is already quite mature," said Gartner telecoms analyst Will Hahn.

"To go it alone will take some doing," said the IDC's Hurst.

One thing is for sure: Vodacom will be freed up for further expansion into Africa and will probably look to take Telkom on in some of its core business areas.

It has already signalled its intentions by launching Vodacom Business and laying substantial amounts of fibre in South Africa.

The deal could also result in Telkom becoming a strategic acquisition target for international players looking to get into the South African market, due to its large customer base and its network infrastructure.

Hurst said that Cell C's parent company, Oger Telecom, and Kuwaiti-based Zain Mobile could be interested in Telkom, but that there could be other suitors such as some of the Chinese mobile players.

Genesis Analytics's James Hodge said he does not think that government would allow an international company to buy the rest of Telkom.

Another analyst, who did not want to be named, said that Telkom could be a juicy target but only for someone who has the skills and management capability to take it on, because there is a perception that it is "a ship with a lot of holes".

"I am not sure how healthy the beast is," said the analyst.

"Telkom is indeed taking a hard look at its operations, structure and strategy and the sense I get is similar to that of a sports team that is close to playoff calibre, but approaching the trade deadline: everything is on the table and all kinds of deals, not just the one we're hearing about today, are possible," said Hahn.

Whichever way things play out it is clear that Vodafone's intentions to secure a controlling interest in Vodacom are set to shake up the telecoms sector in South Africa substantially.

Telkom's competitors are clearly seeing it as an opportunity, with Neotel's head of strategy Angus Hay stating that "there is little doubt that current market changes may affect the balance of power between players and will result in greater competition, which is good for customers."

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5657.html

Telkom squeeze discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?p=2181815#post2181815)

[Lydon]

Despite a human rights complaint being laid against it the IEC website still locks out non-IE users.

Despite a complaint being laid with the Human Rights Commission for excluding non-Internet Explorer users from the Elections.org.za website, the South African Independent Electoral Commission's website is still unavailable to many users.

Citizens using browsers other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Windows are greeted with this message" "Our server detected that you are using a browser or operating system (e.g. Netscape, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome etc.) which is currently incompatible with our website. The current website is only compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer V4 (and upward) on the Windows operating system."

Originally reported in August by Tectonic the message that greets non-IE users has been updated to reflect the release of Google's Chrome browser. The organisation has also added a link to the SMS verification line on the front page. Apart from that, however, the remainder of the site is inaccessible to users of browsers such as Safari, Firefox and Opera. Some of those browsers do, however, include a "compatibility" feature that can be used to mimic Internet Explorer to gain access to the website.

In September Aslam Raffee, chair of government's OSS and Open Standards Working Group, Daniel Mashao, chief technical officer of Sita, and Helen King of The Shuttleworth Foundation together filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission saying that "the IEC's decision to make its website inaccessible to everyone except for purchasers of a proprietary product violates the rights set out in the Constitution."

The South African government has a published set of minimum standards for interoperability and the complainants argued that excluding non-IE users from access violated these.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5664.html

Elections website discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?p=2182512#post2182512)

[Lydon]

A new ICASA website was developed and seemingly launched under a new sub-domain


It seems that the ICASA website has received a complete redesign, but it is not clear whether the website is the final product (image here: http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php/photo/7485)

The ICASA URL – http://www.icasa.org.za – redirected to the sub-domain http://icasanew.syncrony.com/ yesterday, with a newly developed ICASA website hosted at this address.

Syncrony is a web development and web hosting company in Johannesburg, and it is assumed that they were involved in the development of the new ICASA website.

It is however unclear as to why a transparent redirect was not used to hide the fact that the new ICASA website is now hosted as a sub-domain at a web development company.

New look and feel

The new website has a fresh look and seems to have a better organized document repository structure which should make navigating the website easier.

A welcome addition to the new ICASA website is the inclusion of a clearly visible Consumer Complaints Procedure section where consumers can find more information as to how they can address complaints they may have.

ICASA and Syncrony could not immediately be reached for comment.

Update: After this article was published the domain name issue was solved.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/5705.html

New ICASA website discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=141882)

[Lydon]

Neotel puts final touches to R5bn expansion loan


Neotel is finalising a R5 billion funding deal from local financiers that will accelerate the completion of its infrastructure projects.

The second national operator said yesterday that the same companies that had financed its R2 billion loan two years ago had agreed then to fund the deal. The financiers include Nedbank, Investec, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

Neotel has already spent the R2 billion on its expansion programme, which includes rolling out fixed and wireless networks to provide voice and data products to the residential and businesses areas.

Ajay Pandey, the managing director of Neotel, said the fact that the company was able to raise the funding despite the turmoil in financial markets "shows enough confidence in the business".

Neotel plans to spend up to R11 billion, which will be a combination of debt and equity, over the next decade.

Tata Communications of India, which holds 26 percent in the company, is finalising the acquisition of a 30 percent stake held by Transnet and Eskom in Neotel. In June Tata said it had entered into an agreement to buy out the state-owned enterprises.

The transaction is expected to be announced in the next few weeks. Neotel has already bought Transnet's telecoms arm, Transtel, for R230 million.

Yesterday Neotel launched two new consumer voice and data products with rates that are almost half the price consumers are now paying.

The products are aimed at consumers who need to make only voice calls.

"We believe that we have hit the nail on the head with this product, particularly in light of the current economic conditions," said Mukul Sharma, the executive head of Neotel's consumer business unit.

"Consumers are feeling the pinch of global and local economic pressures and are continuously looking to save costs, but still stay in touch."

Neotel has expanded its network coverage in Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria. It is targeting other areas in those cities before expanding to other provinces.

However, in Cape Town the roll-out has been slow because of the cities' landscape.

Neotel's consumer products are offered through wireless network, while businesses access its services mainly through fibreoptic network.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5692.html

Neotel network discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=141942)

[Mo Rush]

big holes around the CBD with the cables being installed.

Cape Town has scrapped 30 million funding from some company for the fibre optic network because too many conditions were imposed on the city. the city has instead just accelerated funding and paid for it without those conditions.

[Lydon]

As long as they repair those holes properly. Many times they tend to not give a hoot and do shoddy repair jobs.

[Lydon]

Telecoms is no longer telecoms! Telephones are no longer telecoms! Where is all this going?


In a keynote address at SATNAC 2008, Judith O’Neill, chairman of the telecoms department of Greenberg Traurig, a highly-respected US law firm, said that the regulatory environment is in flux because the industry is in flux.

The rapidity with which technologies change and advance is causing the telecommunication industries to start blending together – the lines between them blurring. "Looking at it from a lawyer’s point of view one might say that there is a merger and acquisition process going on and that the media, data and entertainment industries are acquiring the telecoms industry. However the current communication piece, the network, remains extremely important for the distribution of all the information content and data that is so important to all of us", O’Neill said.

"Revenue streams of the major telecom companies are shifting and with that the industry will shift. What we are seeing in the commercial world is that the shift in revenue streams is reacting to a shift in investment policies towards a media and entertainment orientation, because the estimates are that the major revenue streams will come from media and entertainment rather than telephony as in the past. Currently in the USA and the EU the bottom line, the major revenue streams, are still coming from telecoms but that is changing fast. It is clear that in the future the telephony portion will be commoditised.

"It started five years ago in Canada when one of the companies sold a telephone service at $2 a month if the customer bought some of their broadband services. We immediately saw a shift in revenue and the telephony part being commoditised. The reason is that with the emerging technologies voice, data and video can ride over the same pipe which was not possible before. The internet protocol has changed all that.

"The network is a kind of a commodity. It is becoming all about the subscriber and the subscriber's lifestyle. Services can be mixed and matched almost as we mix and match clothing.

"It is all these dynamics that affect regulation. Regulation follows commercial penetration. The whole idea of regulation of the infrastructure industry is an antitrust idea. The concept is to prevent those with market power from preventing those without market power from entering the market.

"Does the regulator force those who are building these networks and are investing billions of dollars, to allow access to their networks by competitors and if so at what price? If regulation is forcing network owners to sell to other operators at unrealistically low prices, the tendency is for the network builder to invest elsewhere.

"A few years back the USA learned an expensive lesson. At the time the government tried to regulate the price at which de facto monopolies could charge for broadband. Government created what industry believed was a hypothetical formula for calculating the cost of providing broadband. It was known as total element long-run incremental cost (Telric). This forced the de facto monopolies to open access to their infrastructure by their competitors at prices lower than the cost to build and maintain it. The result was that companies complied but stopped any further investment in broadband access. It was no longer good business!

"Within two years the USA dropped behind in broadband access availability compared with Canada, Korea, Finland and many EU countries. It embarrassed the US government but repealing the law was not an option for President Bush. The only way out was to drop the references to broadband in the Telric order and this was done. With the price ruling the supply of broadband out of the way, healthy competitive conditions returned and investment in broadband took off.

"For the past few years the US telecoms regulator, FCC, has done nothing. I think that if they are deliberately doing nothing, they are making a smart decision. However if they don’t regulate the networks they will pick up problems with consumer groups. The fast internet could become the property of the wealthy. Some say that slow internet is no internet. The extremists on the consumer side are saying "you are controlling content" which is against the constitution in the USA. The FCC is doing the right thing in doing nothing. Right now we should not regulate a problem until we have a problem.

"During August we saw the FCC taking the first steps to what looks like regulation. The FCC ruled against Comcast who introduced a network management system that manages access to some of the social networks which consume very high bandwidth. A small number of customers were affecting the service of the majority of Comcast’s customers, using up all the available bandwidth

"The FCC ruled that Comcast was controlling content and ordered the company to stop network management. Comcast is expected to appeal the ruling and with no regulation in place the FCC will have to eat humble pie.

"The telecoms industry is in turmoil. With the network becoming a commodity I expect to see many mergers and acquisitions with traditional telecommunication companies taking an increasing interest in content for their major revenue streams. It is an interesting sector to watch", said O'Neill.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5726.html

Telecoms regulations discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=142284)

[Lydon]

Trevor Manuel and Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri clashed over her management of Sentech


FINANCE Minister Trevor Manuel and Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri clashed at the weekend over her management of state-owned IT company Sentech.

Manuel charged in an interview with Business Times on Friday that Sentech had falsely accused the Treasury of being stingy with taxpayers’ money.

“Sometimes we’re put under a lot of pressure,” said Manuel, who is under increasing attack from the newly powerful left wing of the ANC for strangling development by setting too-high standards for government funding.

“I want to mention one example,” he said: “Sentech goes to Parliament frequently, saying Treasury is the enemy — Treasury doesn’t give them money, so they can’t do what they have to do.”

But last year the government gave Sentech R500-million to connect 250 of the country’s 500 flagship Dinaledi schools, which specialise in maths and science, to the Internet.

Manuel said: “That is a commitment they made … six months into the year, the R500-million is on the table, it’s there. Number of schools connected? Zero.

“Where is Parliament? Who calls the minister? Who calls the DG and says: “Six months of the year have elapsed. If you’re still at zero now, you’re not going to do these things over Christmas ... there’s a problem with your overseeing of Sentech,” he said.

Matsepe-Casaburri hit back in an interview on Saturday, saying Treasury had given her department less than half the money asked for to put all Dinaledi schools online.

She said the department had had to rework its plans, which was done by January, and then began to set up the infrastructure from which Dinaledi schools would be serviced.

“We had to decide which schools to connect and where it was rural schools it was much harder. We had to think about what other departments should be connected also: home affairs, multipurpose centres, libraries, police, post offices,” she said.

Matsepe-Casaburri accused Manuel of telling Sentech, which is structured as a business, to top up state funding from other sources, but said he had refused to give the company the right to borrow from the private sector.

She said he had made Sentech pass up a R800-million loan which, she said, had caused the company to miss the 3-G bandwagon and let private-sector companies reap the profit from wireless connectivity.

“We’re wrong if we do and we’re wrong if we don’t. I don’t know what else I was supposed to do. What other Mr Moneybags was I supposed to go to?”.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5723.html

Sentech - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=142275)

[Lydon]

Swiftnet seeks out new black partner after Icasa's rejection


The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has rejected the proposed black economic empowerment (BEE) partner of Telkom subsidiary Swiftnet, forcing the fixed-line operator to search for a new partner once again.

Last year in February, Radio Surveillance Consortium (RSC), which includes Radio Surveillance Security Services (RSSS) and Royal Security, agreed to buy 30 percent in the company for R55 million.

The transaction was approved by the competition commission last year, but Icasa had rejected it because it had not been satisfied with the BEE status of RSC, said Telkom.

A source close to the transaction said RSC was not broad-based, as required by the industry charter and the government's codes of good practice.

Last year, technology newswire ITWeb quoted an unnamed RSC spokesperson who said the company was fully compliant with the department of trade and industry's black empowerment codes.

Telkom said on Friday that it had resubmitted the proposed transaction to Icasa "fairly recently." But the company added that it would continue looking for new BEE partners for Swiftnet that would be acceptable to Icasa.

Swiftnet, which trades as Fastnet Wireless Service, provides services such as retail credit card security, telemetry, vehicle tracking and cheque verification.

It holds a telecoms and radio frequency licence, which requires that it sells equity to a black-empowered company.

This means that without a black empowerment partner, Swiftnet is in contravention of its licensing conditions.

Telkom has been struggling for more than four years to find a suitable black company to buy shares in Swiftnet.

At one point the fixed-line operator proposed the complete integration of Swiftnet into its business, but this was rejected by Icasa, which insisted that the licence conditions be observed.

RSSS was started in 1996. It had initially provided the security industry with domestic household and commercial alarm installation and monitoring services.

During 1997 RSSS had focused on the corporate market, recruiting Telkom as its first client, said the company.

Telkom bought the 40 percent stake in Swiftnet that it did not already own from empowerment group VHR Wireless in 2001.

According to Fastnet, companies that are using its technology include Furniture City, Clicks, Rennies Travel, Metcash Africa, Makro and Netstar.

RSSS and Icasa were not available for comment.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Wireless/5731.html

Telkom Swiftnet discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=142318)

[Lydon]

No signs of plan to staunch defections to sexy Neotel


IT’S Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, and it’s 7am. This is the one day on which I truly embrace my religious heritage and do what the day is intended for: reflect on my life over the past year.

But not this year. My phone rang. It was Telkom. Was my ADSL line working properly yet?

What do you say?

In this case, it was someone at Telkom providing me with good service. I’d complained about the slow line speed and they were following up.

It must’ve been karma for all the bad things I’ve said about our national telecoms company – which surely must have some way of tracking such personal information and knowing when its customers have religious holidays.

And no, my ADSL line wasn’t working at full speed, no matter how many assurances I was given that it checked-out OK at their end.

I know, I shouldn’t even be answering the phone — but when it rings at 7am it’s usually for a good reason.

If I could, I’d vote with my feet. But until this week there really hasn’t been any alternative to Telkom. Landline calls are still cheaper than cellular and, apart from the occasional problem like slow line speeds, ADSL is still the best value for money for broadband.

But last week, Neotel, the second network operator whose advent was much-delayed, declared war on Telkom.

Neotel launched its equally long-awaited consumer call service with a device called NeoConnect Lite, and call costs significantly cheaper than Telkom’s. Time for Telkom to be worried, very worried.

If I was wondering what the year ahead would hold for me, Telkom’s managers must be staring into whatever crystal balls they can find hoping for some direction.

Telkom is in a state of unprecedented change. It is selling 15 percent of its stake in Vodacom, its most profitable division, to Vodafone and unbundling the rest to its shareholders. Vodacom and Telkom have been unhappy bedfellows for years, with the former’s barely concealed disdain for the latter an open secret in the industry. Where Telkom will make up the revenue and profit losses from should be keeping CEO Reuben September up at night.

Vodacom is now free to grow and innovate, whereas Telkom must scrabble to find an alternative in the cellular space, where all the growth and profits in the telecoms industry have been for years.

Telkom doesn’t seem to know what its strategy is. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in its confused thinking about Telkom Media, which is all but dead in the water, leaving many good journalists up the creek but at least on a salary. Telkom made the first of its two major about-turns in its strategy by pulling about R1-billion in funding from the venture, leaving it in limbo.

Then there was its sudden reversal of its decision to outsource the bulk of its operations, which had its trade unions up in arms.

Telkom’s problems must be music to Neotel’s ears.

The new products and services the newcomer introduced last week include aggressive landline call rates. NeoConnect Lite is a voice-only device that starts from a R99 a month rental with peak-time calls at 34c and off-peak at 17c. The device will cost R599 but is free on a R199 a month, two-year contract. Neotel said there is no minimum charge per call and billing will be on a true per-second basis.

Data will be sold at a remarkably low 8c a megabyte — less than half the lowest rate, 20c a meg, offered by the cellphone companies . They promise delivery within 48 hours.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5724.html

Telkom versus Neotel discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=142322)

Shapshak is editor of Stuff magazine. His home is within Neotel’s voice-coverage range and he is eagerly waiting for its data service to reach his suburb

[briker]

Faster internet a step closer
Nov 05 2008 17:05

Maputo - Construction has started on a landing station for Seacom's $650m undersea fibre-optic cable in Maputo, Mozambique - bringing cheaper high speed internet access one step closer to South Africa.

An inauspicious-looking but significant concrete platform for the landing station has been built in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, 200 metres away from the beach.

Seacom president Brian Herlihy said the station "needs to be away from the floodline" as it will house generators and other electronic equipment.

Seacom will then make a "very unobtrusive" 1.5 metre cut (deeper in some areas exposed to anchors and fishnets) where it can lay the cable from the landing station on land 2-3km into the ocean. This will connect it to the 15 000km-long cable that will link SA to Europe and India via Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia.

"Everyone starts laying the cable on the beach by hand to reduce the environmental impact, and when it gets into the sea, the ship will pick it up."

'Enormous capacity'

Nearly 90% of the cable has been manufactured, and the entire Seacom network will connect all cable sections off the horn of Africa in the second quarter of 2009.

Seacom said its two fibre pairs will have an "enormous capacity" of 1.28 terrabits per second, where pricing will be significantly lower than current satellite pricing.

"Before Seacom, broadband would cost R8 200 in price per meg per month, but after Seacom it will only cost R435 a meg a month. Today we have seen competition reduce it to R800 a month, but we will still be cheaper than them," said Herhily, adding that over time, prices will be reduced further as volumes increase.

"To light up an entire 1.2 terrabits, according to historical data it will take between eight to 10 years for the cable to be full," he said.

Herlihy said that if more light spectrums had to be added to the cable, the size and the closeness of the repeaters would also change; "as you put (in) more fibre pairs, you have to put (in) more repeaters, and just one repeater costs US$2.5m."

According to Herlihy, if a million broadband users in SA had to access the internet simultaneously, one terrabit of international bandwidth would be required. However, SA only has 10 gigabits available, which makes the internet so slow.

"SA is the 21st-largest economy in the world, but the lack of international capacity has been choking the data market in Africa for years," Herlihy said.

Neotel connection

In SA, Neotel will run the landing station in Mtunzini, in KwaZulu-Natal. "Seacom wouldn't want to build fibre side by side (its competitors), as it would rather cooperate with a partner's backbone on land than build its own," said Herhily.

Neotel executive head of enterprise, Stefano Mattiello, told Fin24.com in a telephonic interview: "We are involved with Seacom. We are providing a landing station under our licence."

Even though Seacom owns the international portion of the cable, Mattiello explained that that Seacom as a company cannot operate in SA as it is not registered in SA and doesn't have a licence.

"For the cable to land here it has to have a licence," he said, adding that this was why Seacom chose to partner with Neotel so that Neotel could sell its bandwidth at wholesale prices to SA customers.

He said Neotel would own the SA portion of the cable out at sea, which comprises roughly 40km of fibre-optic cable, as well as the physical landing station at Mtunzini, near Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal.

"We are investing in excess of R100m in the cable, and we will also be providing backhaul capacity," he said.

While explaining what backhaul capacity meant, Mattiello said: "No one is going to buy internet capacity that is just going to stop at Mtunzini. The cable can't just stop there; it has to be connected to the rest of Neotel's network on land.?

He said that most of the backhaul capacity was already there, waiting for the cable when it lands in 2009. Seacom will have the cable up and running in January or February 2009 so that it can test the system. It will launch the cable commercially on June 27 2009.

The undersea cable is expected to have a 25-year design life. Once it is lit up, there will be a fleet of ships strategically placed for maintenance and repairs.

If a cable section is damaged, a GPS signal is sent out to a ship notifying it where the damage has occurred. The ship could get that piece replaced within three days (where the ship will cut the cable under water, bring it up to the ship and replace it with a new segment), weather permitting, according to Herlihy.

However, there have been cases where it has taken longer to fix a fibre-optic cable. In 2006, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale took out nine underwater cables between the Philippines and Taiwan. This caused a loss of connection between Asia and the rest of the globe, media reports said.

It took almost three months to fix multiple breaks in cables caused by the massive quake.

[Lydon]

Deal puts an end to dysfunctional love triangle


AFTER months of negotiations, Vodafone will take control of Vodacom.

Vodafone, the world’s biggest mobile phone group by revenue, will buy a further 15percent stake of South Africa’s biggest mobile phone group from Telkom, putting an end to the dysfunctional love triangle. It will pay R22.5-billion.

Vodacom, which was owned equally (50percent each) by Telkom and Vodacom, has long been stifled by a shareholders’ agreement that prevented it expanding meaningfully into Africa. Despite being the first to launch a mobile consumer service, it has been overtaken in the rest of Africa by MTN, which now operates in 21 countries, including in the Middle East.

The deal is subject to approval by 75percent of shareholders, the competition authorities and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.

It gives the UK-based Vodafone group a controlling 65percent stake in Vodacom and will allow Vodacom to list on the JSE.

Reuben September, Telkom’s chief executive, said yesterday: “The retained portion of the proceeds from the disposal will accelerate the development of our mobile and data strategies while also allowing us to expand selectively our geographic presence.”

Telkom will distribute 50percent of the cash to its shareholders and retain the remainder for investment projects that September said would be “disciplined”.

He said he expected the entire process, including the dividend payment, to be completed in the first half of next year.

The deal is expected to allow both Vodacom and Telkom the freedom to operate in all geographic areas and provide all possible services.

The previous shareholders’ agreement prohibited Vodacom from expanding into countries where Vodafone was active. That limited the number of locations to five countries.

Also, Telkom was not allowed to provide mobile services in African countries south of the equator in competition with Vodafone. The arrangement was a source of much tension, regularly voiced by retired Vodacom chief executive Alan Knott-Craig.

Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s chief executive, could not hide his delight at the prospect of gaining a dominant position over Vodacom.

“We will continue to support the management team in their strategy of transforming Vodacom into a full service provider in Africa. We are confident that the transaction will deliver value to our shareholders,” Colao said.

Rajay Ambekar, an analyst at Cadiz Asset Management, said the transaction placed a premium value of R150-billion on Vodacom.

He said: “If Vodacom lists, it will probably end up having far less value — around R100-million — in market cap. Vodafone paid a premium for shareholder control.

“Shareholders will more than likely accept the offer next year. The government and Public Investment Corporation [with combined shareholding of more than 50percent] have already given their support.”

Lindsey McDonald of consultancy Frost and Sullivan said: “There seems to have been constant disagreement of how to carry the company forward.

“However, I don’t think Vodacom will be rebranded. This [would] cause confusion.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5904.html

Vodafone-Vodacom-Telkom deal discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=144695)

[Lydon]

Vodacom to become a JSE top star


While markets continue to tumble and investment in South Africa continues to dry up, Vodafone’s acquisition of a further 15% of Vodacom not only pumps over R20-billion into the South African economy, but also facilitates another significant listing — that of Vodacom.

Telkom, which owned 50% of Vodacom, will receive the acquisition price of R22.5-billion less debt of about R1.55-billion, and Vodafone ups its holdings in Vodacom from 50% to 65%.

Telkom’s remaining 35% stake in Vodacom will be distributed to shareholders via a JSE listing of Vodacom. Vodacom is expected to be among the top 20 biggest shares on the JSE.

Mvelaphanda’s proposal to buy Telkom following the Vodafone deal fell through, leaving Telkom on its own and, without Vodacom, free to pursue its fixed-mobile strategy. But there is concern that while it may now have the additional funds to pursue it, it may not have the wherewithal.

Telkom CEO Reuben September said that “when you do a transaction of this nature, you want to end up in a situation that after is better than before — the net value as a stand alone must be higher than the financial investment in Vodacom”.

He said Telkom would be free to compete, to expand geographically and to bring fixed and mobile services to customers.

Telkom had previously looked to Vodacom to help converge fixed and mobile offerings to customers, but this had not materialised.

Vodacom was a customer, competitor and asset of Telkom, and these were “very complex dynamics”.

Telkom was also bound by a restrictive shareholders’ agreement with Vodafone and there were other restrictions, for example, competition law.

While Vodacom provided passive revenue, it restricted Telkom from mobility.

“We have realised that being married to a competitor, however lucrative, is not a bond made in heaven,” September said.

Now that Telkom has been freed from its shackles, the challenge will be to show it can expand and diversify on its own.

September said it had been argued “that Telkom does not have the necessary competitive DNA to deal with challenges”, but he was confident Telkom would surprise critics with its aggression. Telkom had already started the roll-out of base stations to cover high-theft incident areas, and mobile services should be available on a wide scale during next year.

Half of the Vodafone money will be retained by Telkom to accelerate its strategies. The other half will be distributed to shareholders as a special dividend.

For Vodacom, the deal frees it from the restrictions of having joint controlling shareholders with a restrictive agreement in place. It can also extend its expansion in Africa except into countries where Vodafone has a presence.

Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said the group was a long-term investor in South Africa.

Vodafone will get operational control of Vodacom and the investment will provide a strong earnings stream to Vodafone.

Vodafone has agreed to keep the Vodacom brand alive.

Morten Lundal, Vodafone chief executive for Central Europe and Africa, said: “When it comes to international expansion, things will be far easier for us. However, Vodacom is an extremely strong brand and we intend to keep it visible.

“You will start to see the best of Vodafone, but this will allow Vodacom to be a contributor to the group, as it has achieved a lot in South Africa,” Lundal said.

Government and the Public Investment Corporation, which own a combined 58% of Telkom, will vote in favour of the transaction and will become significant shareholders in Vodacom.

Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said the deal had a “direct positive impact on South Africa as it results in substantial foreign direct investment flowing into South Africa and signals Vodafone’s confidence in and continued commitment to the future of South Africa and the African continent”.

Telkom “will be free to pursue an independent fixed-mobile convergence strategy, accelerate the roll-out of its next generation network, build a wireless access network and data centres and expand on the African continent,” she said.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/5905.html

Vodacom JSE listing discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=144586)

[Lydon]

Vodacom may be ditching its blue and green logo, replacing it with red and white


Telkom recently announced that it would dispose of its stake in Vodacom with Vodafone buying 15%, giving the UK-based cellular giant a majority stake in Vodacom. This has raised questions about Vodacom's branding and whether the company would replace its current name and brand with the Vodafone brand.

Government has insisted that the Vodacom brand would remain visible throughout Africa, which means that a name change to Vodafone is highly unlikely.

Rumours have, however, started spreading, suggesting that Vodacom will replace its current green and blue branding with red and white – similar to Vodafone’s colours. This was confirmed by a source close to the rebranding of Vodacom.

It is speculated that the new logo will basically be the same as the current Vodacom logo, but in red and white.

Vodacom, however, said that no decision had been taken at this stage and the company could not provide any details about the rebranding process.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5918.html

Red Vodacom logo - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=144750)

[Lydon]

Telkom will look to launch its fixed cellular service off the back of an existing operator.


Telkom plans to piggyback on an existing cellphone operator's network as part of its fixed cellular services strategy, but Vodacom has already warned that it might be difficult to enter the cellular market.

Yesterday Telkom and Vodafone announced that they had signed the long-awaited transaction that would result in the UK-based cellular operator taking control of Vodacom.

"We don't intend to be a fourth mobile phone operator in South Africa," said Reuben September, the chief executive of Telkom.

He said Telkom would build a selective geographical cellular network and was still pursuing a roaming agreement.

Telkom could enter into an agreement with an operator that had spare capacity on its network. According to analysts, this would offer great opportunity for returns.

But Pieter Uys, the chief executive of the Vodacom Group, said it would be too late for another traditional cellular operator to enter the market, as SIM card penetration was already 45 million.

He warned that although regulatory changes allowed operators to diversify their services, it would be difficult for Telkom to operate like MTN, Cell C or even Vodacom.

"Maybe one day we will discuss with Telkom to become our service provider," he said.

Vodafone would buy an additional 15 percent of Vodacom for R22.5 billion. The remaining 35 percent would be unbundled to Telkom's shareholders when Vodacom listed on the JSE's main board in the first half of next year.

The deal, supported by the government and the Public Investment Corporation, which together own 55 percent, will be finalised before June.

Morten Lundal, the chief executive of Vodafone Group's central Europe and Africa regions, said that Vodafone had agreed with the government that the Vodacom identity would remain visible on the African continent.

"We have to find the best way to still get both brands [Vodafone and Vodacom] to work together and to the best of the consumer. We are yet to find exactly how to do that," said Lundal.

Vodafone will use Vodacom as an investment vehicle in sub-Saharan Africa.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5890.html

Telkom mobile discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=144839)

[Lydon]

Vodacom's total customers increased by 13.1% to 35.7 million at the end of September 2008


Cellular operator Vodacom said on Tuesday that its total customers increased by 13.1% to 35.7 million at the end of September 2008 compared with a year ago.

The information was released on Tuesday as it is contained in Vodafone's financial results announcement released today.

Pieter Uys, CEO of the Vodacom Group, said: "These provisional results demonstrate once again strong growth in Vodacom's business. We now have almost 36 million customers, which is a 13.1% increase on a year ago."

For the six months ended September, Vodacom's revenue increased by 14% to R26bn and profit from operations increased by 12.5% to R6.4bn.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) increased by 13.9% to R8.7bn and cash generated from operations increased by 15.6% to R8bn.

A detailed analysis of the Vodacom Group's operations and indicators will be released on Monday, 17 November.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5936.html

Vodacom discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=144937)

[Lydon]

Vodacom Business today launched its new R100million data centre


Vodacom Business today launched its new R100million, state-of-the-art data centre based in Johannesburg.

The facility has the capacity to host up to 20 000 dedicated client servers or 650 000 virtual machines. The objective of the data centre is to allow companies to do away with their own costly data centres.

Vodacom Business will offer the following services:

- Basic web hosting
- Service Co-location
- Dedicated hosting
- Managed storage
- Managed backups

Wally Beelders, Executive Director of Vodacom Business says “IT operations are a crucial aspect of any companies operations. One of the main concerns is business continuity; companies rely on their information systems to run their operations.

If a system becomes unavailable, company operations may be impaired or stopped completely. Our new data centre will ensure that a company can continue to run without having to worry about their IT infrastructure.”

Beelders says all companies, no matter what size, will be able to benefit from the range of hosting services now available dude to the new data centre.

According to Beelders, the cost of setting up and running your own data centre infrastructure with back- up generators, UPS, air cooling, building management systems and associated services is prohibitive.

“By making use of our Data centre, clients will benefit from safe and cost-effective data centre environment – including back-up services that ensure the highest level of availability and network performance.”

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5941.html

Vodacom Business hosting discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=145040)

[Lydon]

Vodacom Business’ data centre may be best in the southern hemisphere


Vodacom Business recently launched its new tier four hosting facility in Midrand (hosting centre image). The R100 million facility boasts various impressive facilities, including biometric security systems, video surveillance, on-site security officers and surplus power.

The 1 000 square metre datacentre is fully redundant and built and designed on an N+N principle. According to Vodacom business the security and robustness of the facility is top notch, being able to withstand natural disasters such as tornados while the glass in the facility is fully bullet proof.

Cabling to all secure cabinets allow for 10Gig copper, 10Gig multimode optic fibre and 10Gig single mode fiber, enabling exceptional user experience free from bandwidth bottlenecks.

Vodacom Business executive director Wally Beelders says that he is confident that the datacentre is the most advanced of its kind in South Africa and possibly the southern hemisphere.

A tier four datacentre refers to a facility which is designed to host mission critical computer systems with "fully redundant subsystems and compartmentalised security zones controlled by biometric access". The datacentre should be fault tolerant and provide 99.995% availability.

The new Vodacom hosting facility qualifies as a tier four datacentre and is certainly world class in every respect. It is quite clear that Vodacom was prepared to invest heavily in this project to ensure that it is the best money can buy.

Vodacom Business plans to offer a full spectrum of hosting services, including basic web hosting, dedicated hosting, server co-location, managed storage and managed backups.

The company’s initial focus will be on the enterprise sector but Beelders said that more consumer related offerings will follow soon.

Beelders is confident that the new datacentre will be fully utilised by September 2009 and he says there are already plans to invest in a larger facility for future needs. Vodacom Business is also planning to invest in similar facilities in Cape Town and Kwazulu-Natal.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/5970.html

Vodacom Business DC discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=145405) || Vodacom Business DC photo (http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php/photo/7828)

[Cape Town Guy]

^^^ Thats a positive move by Vodacom..but in truth it helps nothing to saying your the best in the Southern Hemisphere when the Northern hemisphere has tones more. Hope it works out extremely well as people with unshaped accounts will be looking forward to using some cheaper local bandwidth on a wider variety of things.

[Lydon]

^^ The northern hemisphere is indeed much further ahead, but remember countries such as Australia and Brazil are in competition with us in the Southern Hemisphere.

[Cape Town Guy]

True. I know that countries like Argentina and Brazil are fine on the broadband front. Where as us and Australia have both suffered from inefficiency supply of bandwidth. So would make sense that the South American countries have some large scale internet infrastructure. Having said that, we are still years behind Australia. Hopefully to all change from mid next year.

[Gulivar]

SA's ranking in IT index is steady 37

Johannesburg - South Africa ranks 37th in the world in the 2008 information technology (IT) industry competitiveness index, according to a study released yesterday by the Economist intelligence unit.

The country's ranking is unchanged from last year.

The finding is weighted primarily towards a strong business and legal environment, represented by 76.9 percent and 63.5 percent respectively.

The study assessed and compared the IT industry environments of 66 countries to determine the extent to which they enabled competitiveness in the sector.

Although the top 20 economies remained the same from a year ago, nine countries moved up and 11 went down in the rankings.

Three countries in the top five are new: Taiwan, Sweden and Denmark.

The top five countries in Middle East-Africa are Israel (56.7), South Africa (32.6), Turkey (32.4), Saudi Arabia (32.3) and Egypt (25.3).

The overall top five countries are the US (74.6), Taiwan (69.2), the UK (67.2), Sweden (66) and Denmark (65.2).

"This year's index shows that a country's IT competitiveness rankings can move upward or downward very quickly," said Alastair de Wet, the chairman of the South African chapter of the Business Software Alliance, which is the sponsor of the survey.


"South Africa has been identified, alongside Bulgaria, the Ukraine and Vietnam, as an emerging outsourcing destination," added De Wet.

"Through the realisation of faster, more reliable and more secure internet access, we can look forward to receiving a significant boost with fast, competition-led infrastructure development."

The study shows that South Africa's strongest performance is in the areas associated with the business and legal environment, as well as support for IT industry development, with a score of 57.5 percent.

Areas of improvement include IT infrastructure (8.4 percent), primarily through the provision of high-quality networks and liberalisation of telecoms in the region.

"Policy makers and business leaders need to address the full combination of factors that enable competitive IT industries," said Denis McCauley, the director of global technology research with the unit.

"Few countries can hope to build strong IT production sectors without strong business and legal environments, deep pools of talent, support for innovation and the use of technology throughout society," McCauley added.

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1646&fArticleId=4625080

[briker]

Ivy abandons licence appeal
Nov 23 2008 10:48

Johannesburg - After staggering against the ropes three times, Communications Minister Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri threw in the towel on Friday.

In a statement Joe Makhafola, Matsepe-Casaburri's spokesperson, said the minister had decided not to proceed with her court action against telecommunications company Altech.

This means that the Independent Communications Authority (Icasa) can now proceed to issue the licences that will enable companies to build their own telecommunications networks.

These companies will then no longer be dependent on Telkom to supply telecommunications services.

This could lead to greater competition in the industry and falling prices.

This follows the High Court ruling in April that Altech could build its own network. Icasa then began to issue licences, but stopped when Matsepe-Casaburri indicated that she planned to appeal the ruling.

She was, however, denied leave to appeal and she then applied for an urgent interdict to prevent Icasa issuing licences before her appeal process was completed.

According to the statement, Matsepe-Casaburri was depicted as a villain because of her opposition to Altech's licence. The minister was simply doing her duty by protecting laws approved by parliament, insists the statement.

"If the minister proceeds with the application there is a danger that Icasa will not be able to convert the licences by January 19 2009."

[Lydon]

There's considerable anticipation about who will replace Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri



South Africa's information and communication technology sector has long been punished by Government's poor leadership - a key stakeholder in the industry, given it's heavily regulated - and as such there's considerable anticipation about who will replace Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri after the next election. However, despite being an important question, nobody seems to know who Matsepe-Casaburri's possible successor will be.

Democratic Alliance spokesman Dene Smuts says it depends on the outcome of the 2009 election. "We have no idea who the new minister will be, because we're not sure who will win the election." Smuts says the DA speaks to actual voters and says the ruling ANC is going to get a "big shock" next year.

That comes in the wake of a political shake-up that led to the formation of a new breakaway party by former ANC Cabinet minister Mosiuoa Lekota called (but yet to be confirmed) Congress of the People (COPE).

The question of leadership in SA's Communications Department raises its head, given that Matsepe-Casaburri didn't make it on to the ANC's top list at Polokwane. It also comes after the recent resignation of director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole from the ANC and its National Executive Committee to join COPE.

Even though directors-general are supposed to be public servants and non-political appointees, Shope-Mafole was elected to the NEC at Polokwane. That suggested she could be in the running for an important Cabinet post in the possible post-election Jacob Zuma cabinet.

But that clearly won't be the case if the ANC does win the coming election. In her resignation letter Shope-Mafole said she remained "a committed public servant and in that capacity I will continue to serve the ANC-led Government as I have always done, to the best of my ability and with pride and passion".

Shope-Mafole put her resignation - which surprised many, given she was such a committed ANC cadre - down to finding herself in "a very different ANC from the one I grew up in. More often than not I find a number of things happen or statements are made that I think are incompatible with what I believe the ANC is or should be."

However, ANC chief whip Khotso Khumalo told the Parliamentary portfolio committee (as reported by Business Day) that Shope-Mafole wasn't appointed because she belonged to the ANC and her contract ends only in 2011. So it seems she's won't be leaving her current post just yet.

BMI-T MD Denis Smit says he isn't 100% sure Shope-Mafole would continue as director-general after the next elections and that perhaps deputy minister Roy Padayachie could have a chance at being appointed to the position. Padayachie has headed initiatives, such as the pricing of telecoms services back in 2005, and garnered respect as someone who could bring about change in the department.

Although Matsepe-Casaburri is at the helm, Shope-Mafole has been widely regarded for some time as playing a key role in setting policy and making decisions.

Neither BMI-T nor Africa Analysis, another research house, had a view on who the next minister might be, although both said it was an important question. Africa Analysis telecoms analyst Dobek Pater says the political scene is complex to analyse from that perspective. Pater says many current ministers haven't performed well, nor is he sure who in the ANC's ranks has any relevant ICT experience.

With regard to Shope-Mafole, Pater says a director-general could theoretically become a minister if he/she had the correct party affiliations but would first have to step down from that post and run for election as an MP.

Pater says only if the ANC obtained less than 50% of the vote and decided to form a coalition government would a candidate other than an ANC cadre have a chance of becoming a minister.

Finweek

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/6070.html

Succession discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?p=2299752#post2299752)

[Lydon]

Telkom is on a mission to reinvent itself


Freedom to compete. Those three words appeared in large letters on Telkom CEO Reuben September’s slides at the company’s interim results presentation on Monday. With its divorce from Vodacom imminent, Telkom is on a mission to reinvent itself.

It’s worth pausing to reflect on the enormous changes that have swept through SA’s telecommunications industry in the past 36 months. Three years ago, SA had one fixed-line operator, three mobile operators (one of them struggling to keep its head above water), and the promise of competition (maybe) from a second national network operator.

Three years later, the two big mobile operators, Vodacom and MTN, are building their own fixed-line networks to serve their own needs and the needs of the business market and are aggressively pursuing the market for converged data, voice and IT services.

Second network operator Neotel, though still tiny next to Telkom, has introduced several innovative products that are starting to keep the incumbent on its toes.

And, thanks to Altech, Internet service providers and other companies with value-added network service licences will soon be able to build their own networks. The effects of this could be profound.

Even telecom tyke Cell C has turned the corner financially and is taking the fight to its bigger, better-funded rivals.

The changes sweeping SA’s telecom industry have, however, only just begun. The imminent disposal by Telkom of its 50% stake in Vodacom — 15% to the UK’s Vodafone and the rest to be unbundled to shareholders — will have a profound impact on the sector.

The deal will free Telkom to build a mobile network. It will also give it a huge cash pile — R10,5bn before taxes — which it can use to build the network (and make acquisitions in fast-growing markets in Africa).

Telkom has already begun building a fixed-wireless network based on the same 3G technology used by MTN and Vodacom. But under an agreement with Vodafone, it has been prohibited from offering full mobility — involving the hand-off of calls between base stations. The moment that agreement falls away, some time in the first half of 2009, Telkom will switch on a full mobile network.

The company is not yet saying how much it will spend on its mobile network but September says it will be “orders of magnitude” more than the R1,7bn it had planned to spend over three years on its fixed-wireless network.

It won’t build a network on the same scale as Vodacom’s and MTN’s, preferring instead to roam on another cellular operator’s network in areas where it doesn’t make financial sense to build infrastructure, but it is already talking aggressively about reducing prices.

The company hasn’t yet announced tariff plans for voice calls on its wireless network but September has hinted strongly that prices for calls between its own mobile and fixed-line networks will be quite a bit cheaper than calls between its fixed-line network and other mobile network operators. This is because it won’t have to pay the high interconnect fees imposed by MTN and Vodacom.

It’s in the corporate market where Telkom could take most market share from its cellular rivals. The company counts SA’s biggest corporate companies as clients. By offering bundles of fixed-line and mobile services, it could make life very difficult for MTN and Vodacom.

The lure of cheap calls between mobiles and land lines could be enough to entice many business customers to sign up to a broader range of Telkom services.

Its rivals will have to respond by cutting prices, too — exactly the sort of price competition that SA has been crying out for.

My bet is that the changes of the past three years in telecoms are going to be eclipsed by what happens in the next three.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/6098.html

The new Telkom - give your views (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=147132)

[Lydon]

Naspers is investigating four staffers employed by its pay-TV operation MultiChoice


Media group Naspers is investigating four staffers employed by its pay-TV operation MultiChoice on suspicion of fraud.

The four are accused of defrauding Africa’s largest media company of R11m, according to the group’s 2008 annual report.

They allegedly manipulated the billing system MultiChoice uses to collect subscription fees, and redirected funds into their personal accounts.

Naspers head of investor relations Meloy Horn says the employees were based at MultiChoice Africa’s Randburg offices. “The investigation is at a sensitive stage. We are pursuing the matter in the courts and are awaiting a trial date. The case is sub judice.”

Last year Naspers suspended six employees of Media24, its printing arm, for inflating magazine circulation figures. It paid close to R40m in compensation to advertisers who were affected.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Telecoms/6099.html

Multichoice discussion (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=147168)

[Pule]

Intelsat to launch $250m satellite for Africa


By: Reuters
09 Dec 08

Private-fund owned satellite firm Intelsat and a South African investment consortium plan to build and launch a $250-million satellite to serve Africa and improve communications on the poorest continent.

Intelsat and an investment group led by Convergence Partners said in a statement on Tuesday that the "Intelsat New Dawn" satellite was expected to enter service in early 2011 and would be funded by project financing.

Demand for fixed satellite services in Africa is growing given increased investment on the continent and as more people get hooked up to phones, the Internet and pay-TV. Poor communications are cited as a deterrent for foreign inves