Mother of all necessity

This weekend I travelled into the country and stayed at a delightful farm B&B, with all the comforts of a boutique hotel and the warmth of a stay with friends.

At dinner, a conversation began about the Internet and I was to discover the farmer was no stranger to technology. In fact, in this particular valley it was Telkom that was the stranger. There was no ADSL connectivity, no ISDN, and at most spots, no coverage from the major cellphone networks. People needed the Internet, but there was simply no option. And so a solution was sought.

After some research the farmer decided a wireless canopy could be constructed over the valley by mounting three wireless transceivers on surrounding hills. With the permission of the landowners, antennas were mounted with 120-degree coverage of the valley below. The farmer then persuaded residents in the valley to sign up to his wireless Internet service. Each user required a transmitter operating in the public 5.8GHz band, which cost around R5 000, and this was mounted on their roof. To make things affordable, the farmer laid out his own money for the purchase of the equipment and leased it back to them for R600 a month. The installation he did himself with some poles, his bakkie, and a spanner. Each of the houses or farms were given a small internal LAN, with an internal wireless transmitter relaying back to the "high-spot" transmitters on the hill.

Over the period of a year, the farmer has connected 100 valley residents, beaming the signals back to the local town for transfer through a Telkom Diginet line. For a 192Kb connection he pays Telkom R15 000 per month – around 6 000% more expensive per kilobit than ADSL.

The transformation to the valley – despite the slow speeds from piggybacking 100 PCs over a single line – has been remarkable. Consider one resident, an architect, recently moved from Johannesburg. With the farmer's network, she can e-mail drawings and continue to work for her Johannesburg employers while reaping all the pleasures of working in the country. Then there is the dairy farm that has reduced its bank charges by using Internet banking, saving on a costly daily trek to town. The local hotel is also benefiting, in this case from online bookings.

Finally, in a twist of irony, our farmer points out there have been cost-savings from people reporting Telkom landline faults via the Web site, instead of the interminably slow call centre (which necessitated a drive to a spot with cellphone coverage, only to hang on the line for 20 minutes).

Legal worries

This farmer solved a problem with the determination he applies to his broken fences, and literally with his own hands. It is a remarkable story, except for one thing – he does not possess a value-added network licence and he is therefore in breach of the law. Though the farmer is charging his customers for the service, it cannot be said he is in it for the money. By the time he has built in the finance costs of amortising the equipment, he has barely recovered his costs. He explains he takes satisfaction from a problem solved and the resulting gratitude of his neighbours.

Will the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) take the same view? In light of the new Electronic Communications Act, power has passed away from Parliament and the Department of Communications, and into the regulatory hands of the technocrats. Where before, the industry referred to the 1996 Telecommunications Act to determine what was possible and what was not (more often, not!), we now have ill-defined powers granted to an authority who may define a licensing environment of their own making. Should we be scared?

That depends on ICASA. Certainly our farmer is worried about his legal position. He wants to become legitimate and is happy to apply for a VAN licence. But he has heard his business will require a BEE component before it will be granted. He is also worried if he shows his head and is turned down, the authorities will confiscate his equipment. He has good reason to be scared. Several parties have had their networks torn down by an energetic ICASA, goaded on by a grinning Telkom.

ICASA has almost unlimited powers in how it defines the new licensing regime. It can literally determine the telecoms landscape. This could be positive if it takes the view that it is finally in a position to lift South African telecoms to new heights of innovation, bringing choice, quality and competitive prices to the ill-treated South African consumer. However, it is as likely to fall prey to the powerful vested interests that stalk its office passages in Sandton. Inducements from such powerful interests will be hard to resist. On the other hand, ICASA has a real opportunity to support small business, granting licences with little red tape or hindrance, and thereby promote valuable economic activity.

If necessity is the mother of invention then our appalling telecoms laws have been the mother of necessity. We have recently moved from an explicit legal regime dictated by a Parliamentary Act, to a discretionary regime defined by regulatory bureaucrats. The degree to which the South Africa information technology landscape becomes competitive will be dependent on the crucial decisions ICASA makes within the new licensing regime. The Act's protagonists refer to the new law as "enabling legislation". Our farmer may not be concerned about political definitions – but he will be concerned about an official who comes to tear down his antenna. Let's hope ICASA has the guts to stand up for the consumer and create the "enabling" environment our politicians have promised.

Related columns:
Forward to the past
SA leaps onto telecoms superhighway

  POST YOUR COMMENT

Headline

Comment

Name

Email

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Please enter the CAPTCHA characters below

---

 Comments (5)