South Africa: Telecoms ‘Gold Rush’ Leaves Nothing for Masses - ICASA

This press release was widely distributed online and appeared on Allafrica.com amongst others, from where I reproduce it, with full credits intact. This of course ties in with my previous posts regarding the fragile socio-political dynamics of the South African internet/web 2.0/technology sector and the many challenges faced by all who hope to make a meaningful contribution in this space.

Telecoms ‘Gold Rush’ Leaves Nothing for Masses - ICASA
Business Day (Johannesburg)
NEWS
24 July 2008
Posted to the web 24 July 2008

By Lesley Stones
Johannesburg

THE telecommunications sector is becoming a new gold rush where large white-owned companies pocket the wealth and leave nothing for the masses, says the chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa).

The lowest rungs of society would be alienated if the regulator did not actively demand a greater role for black people in the industry, said chairman Paris Mashile. That is why Icasa would insist new licences for scarce spectrum went to companies that were 51% black-owned.

Speaking during a conference staged by Internet Solutions this week, Mashile defended Icasa’s decision to make empowerment a more important criterion than skills or cash to build a telecoms network,

Demanding 51% black ownership “isn’t outside the law” and the aim was to empower black people to start their own businesses rather than just take a stake in a successful white operator. White firms that sold equity to black people without relinquishing control were merely performing “empowerment gimmicks”, he said.

The high black profile is a condition for six new licences to use a high-speed wireless technology called WiMax, and each licence will allocate 20MHz of spectrum. That decision has also angered the industry, with many voice and data carriers saying 30MHz is needed to build a cost-effective network.

Telkom’s chief technical officer Thami Msimango said giving licences to one-man shows would not benefit the country. “People who can afford to roll out infrastructure should be given that spectrum,” he said.

Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig said true empowerment would be achieved by giving everyone access to affordable telephony and internet services, not by favouring operators owned by the previously disadvantaged. Vodacom could extend its network for two-thirds of the current cost if it had more spectrum, and it would pass the savings on to consumers by cutting the cost of calls, he said.

Mashile said there were ways of using 20MHz of spectrum efficiently, and operators just wanted as much as they could get simply to deprive other companies of that resource.

The unwelcome licensing criteria were set out after Icasa distilled a wide range of comments from the industry. It has repeatedly said the conditions are final, but has called for another round of comments.

Mashile said he would be happy to see companies build their own network infrastructure, as long as they were aware of the risks. ” We will open up for whoever wants to burn his money in this market - it’s up to them to take on the big guys and live with the consequences.”

Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)

Tags: access, africa, BEE, black economic empowerment, competition, culture, empowerment, ICT, infrastructure, internet, politics, resources, south africa, telecommunications

Chinlone - Burmese acrobatic ball game - mega awesome!!!

When I stayed in Burma (2001 - 2004), I had the opportunity to watch this amazing display of acrobatic skill and showmanship while travelling through the country as an ordained Buddhist monk from monastery to monastery. I got this in my Twine digest today, and you can see the write-up about the film Mystic Ball over here. I got my Twine invite only a couple of weeks ago, but it is the most valuable and high signal ratio social network out there to date. When you subscribe to groups or Twines around topics of interest, you always get a daily digest of all the high-value articles and links that has been Twined or shared by memebers who also belong to that group of Twines. Never has a day gone by that there was not a couple of articles that I clicked on to go read or save and share, mostly to do with Web Development, Open Source, Linux, Myanmar (Burma), Tibet, Buddhism, Social Networking, Semantic web 3.0, Twitter and WordPress . My Twine profile is over here. Please leave a comment or send me a mail if you would like me to send you a Twine invite, it is in invitation-only beta at the moment, but I have a couple of invites to share

From the website:

This lovely, lyrical documentary introduces Chinlone, a Burmese sport that soars somewhere between acrobatics, hackey sack, and Balinese dance. This game, unknown outside of Burma, became an obsession for Greg Hamilton. For the past 20 years he’s painfully tried to whisk the distinctive woven-rattan ball, faithfully returning to Burma to play in tournaments, becoming the first westerner to do so. What makes this film so rewarding is Hamilton’s candid autobiographical account of his slow learning. At first he is laughed at, but after 8 years of filming, he slowly gains respect from the Burmese. Chinlone is a beautiful non-competitive game. You “win” by keeping the ball in the air for your teammates — a fit metaphor for life, and a perfect frame for this extremely contemplative but dynamic film. Greg’s story is really not about sport, or the Zen of Burmese Hackey Sack, but about how to learn and love.

– KK

Tags: burma, chinlone, culture, myanmar, semantic social search network, sport, twine, video, YouTube