These are our comments on the draft ADSL regulations as per Government Gazette no 28267 which can be found here.

Fees and Charges

We welcome the proposal to limit costs relating to connectivity and in particular the proposal to limit this cost to a once off cost payable over a fixed period.

Our only concern is that the network operators or licensed service providers of broadband infrastructure will increase the bandwidth cost to subsidize the connectivity cost.

We are encouraged by the inclusion of terms such as wholesale rates, as this implies that providers of infrastructure are by default wholesale suppliers. We encourage ICASA to regulate wholesale suppliers that are able to, and choose to, compete directly with resellers/service providers. Ultimately we would like to see infrastructure providers being prohibited from being resellers/service providers as this will encourage growth in the SMME sector by preventing unfair competition. We furthermore recommend that the provision of wholesale bandwidth to service providers be a condition of the license granted to the infrastructure provider. This will ensure that service providers are able to resell all forms of licensed broadband services which will ultimately result broader market penetration.

Joe Mjwara the deputy director-general in charge of policy from the Department of Communications today announced that Content and Applications will not require licensing in terms of the new Convergence Bill. It was also announced that bi-lateral consultation will be required by the Minister and ICASA in terms of policy and regulatory matters.

We applaud the announcements which will further add credibility to the process of making legislation as far as public input is concerned.

Source: IT Web

We gave an oral representation at the recent Convergence Bill hearings held in Cape Town. Our primary argument was that licensing of Content and Applications was wrong and that simple changes to the definitions would provide much needed clarity, which is crucial to the success of the Bill.

In order to illustrate our point of view we compared communication networks to transport networks. Transport networks convey goods from point A to point B. Communication networks convey content from point A to point B.

Let’s look at transport networks. I have goods that I want to transport from Hermanus to London. The goods will be transported via road, rail and ship. In order to convey the goods across these three transport networks I must first package the goods in a container that can be accommodated on all three these networks. The transport networks consist of services and infrastructure. The truck provides the service and the road is the infrastructure.

ICASA are holding a section 27 enquiry as per Government Gazette no 27613, into the subsidisation of handsets. Are we finally going to realise that,

“The only free cheese is in the mouse trap.”

Mobile operators are using inflated tariffs to subsidise handsets. Only the wealthy benefit from the subsidies offered in contracts. The poor, who do not qualify for contracts and therefore subsidies, are further penalized by paying higher tariffs. We applaud ICASA for taking the bold step of investigating this evil practice.

Our submission:

Q1. Should ICASA develop specific regulations for subsidisation of handsets?

Monday June 20, 2005

Next month, the European Parliament will vote on the vital question of whether
to allow patents covering software, which would restrict every computer user
and tie software developers up in knots.

Many politicians may be voting blindly - not being programmers, they don't
understand what software patents do. They often think patents are similar to
copyright law (except for some details), which is not the case.

For example, when I publicly asked Patrick Devedjian, then the minister for
industry, how France would vote on the issue of software patents, he responded

What’s gone?
1. Definition of “Self-provision”
No surprise here. The new regulations are conspicuously void of any reference to self provisioning and the definition of what VAN services are. I know that ICASA tried very hard to include self provisioning, but I guess they are not so independent after all. Self provisioning would have contributed to lowering of prices more competition and would ultimately benefit the very people the government is so eager to assist. The inability to “Self provide” will only benefit the dominant players at the expense of the consumer.

2. Definition of “VANS”

The public hearings regarding the Convergence Bill is due to start on 24 May 2005. For those that cannot attend a company, Khulumani Information Services, is offering detailed coverage for a price. They can be contacted here:

Khulumani Information Services & Training
E-Mail: khulumani@mweb.co.za
P O Box 503, Eppingdust, 7475
Tel: (021) 535 2338
Cell: 082 3632215
Fax: 086 6719866

At the resent ADSL hearings we heard in submission after submission how Telkom is raping South Africans. To take away unlimited local access will once again show just how arrogant Telkom is with it's blatent disregard for the effects that it's decisions have on the local economy. Many companies are using ADSL as an alternetive to Diginet links and taking away unlimited local access is nothing more than Telkom protecting it's Diginet monopoly. Diginet links cost up to 40 times more than ADSL . In other countries Diginet connections cost a fraction of what it costs here.

How can ICASA allow this to continue or is ICASA's independance and authority being undermined by the political agendas and blatant incompetence of the Department of Communications?

Jurie and I attended the ADSL hearings on Monday 19 April. Our presentation can be found here. Aware-presentaion.pdf

We gave our presentation just before M-Web's Richard Heath and Mervyn Goliath. We both said the same thing. Telkom takes the cake and leave crumbs for the ISP's. We look forward to ICASA's findings.