Comments on: Oh frabjous day! The telco Jabberwock is dead

By: Mandy de Waal

Mandy de Waal — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:26:00 +0000

Awesome article Arthur. And yes – the harm done to South Africa by the pernicious laws that stifled competitive telecoms in this country is incalculable. A complete and utter tragedy. Every triumph in maiming the monster that has eaten our free market and ability to compete internationally must be celebrated.

By: Perry Curling-Hope

Perry Curling-Hope — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:06:11 +0000

Touché Arthur!!

Roll on the Free Market (and the freedoms of civil liberty which go with it)!!!

Down with the state spoilers!

Who the hell said that these public servants, who call themselves ‘politicians’ suddenly own all the bandwidth because they won an election?

They were elected to serve, like delivering electricity and other ‘services’ which they insist must be ‘regulated’ (by themselves), not confiscate the freedom of enterprise, and then sell ‘permission’ in the form of licenses, ownership rules and labour ‘equity’ regulation.
The master returns to find the paid servants have taken over, set themselves up as Lord of the Manor, and graciously ‘permit’ the owner (the SA public), at a price and at their sole discretion, to do what he has every right to do in his own house!

Such ‘permission’ is eked out parsimoniously to their cronies, keeping monopolies alive and well, stunting economic growth upon which the improved welfare of the poor depends.

Yet the party claims to be the champion of the poor and pledge to fight monopolies with new legislation punishing cartel price fixers with heavy penalties.
Perhaps Tiger Milling’s Party credentials were not in favour.

It’s like the subject of another of your erudite posts… do they really think we are thick?

By: Telecoms in South Africa: Apres moi, le deluge | Many Possibilities

Telecoms in South Africa: Apres moi, le deluge | Many Possibilities — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:39:25 +0000

[...] see the general expressions of joy from the South African community. Arthur Goldstuck’s Oh Frabjous Day is worth reading as is the general outpouring of joy by likes of Dominic Cull and Ant Brooks (and a [...]

By: Oupoot

Oupoot — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:19:40 +0000

I heard about the news. It is a momentous day in telecoms in SA. Yes, we wont feel the impact tomorrow and not next year, but give it a few years. My optimistic estimate is 4 years for another players to get to where Neotel is today. But there are many potential delays (appeals, additional requirements from ICASA, more anti-competitive behaviour, etc), but I’m sure that the ICT environment in SA in 6-10 years time would be drastically different than it would have been the case otherwise. As you pointed out, normal competitive market forces (as well as bureaucratic inertia) will take place over time. Given the standard industry structure in SA, I expect we will have 3-4 big players controlling 80-90% of the SA telecoms market in 10-15 years time, dominated by Vodacom & MTN, with Telkom reduced to a minor player of 15% and Neotel prob around 10%.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:41:41 +0000

YAY YAY YAY, Joyful day indeed!!!!

At last, a court undoes some of the minister’s mess!

By: Steve Song

Steve Song — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:40:23 +0000

Great post! The vorpal sword was indeed sharp in that the ruling was uncharacteristically crystal clear for the telecom sector. Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend!