The Cape Information Technology Initiative (CITI) has written to minister of trade and industry Alec Irwin to call for a change in government policy which threatens to keep voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services illegal in SA, despite the partial liberalisation of the telecommunications market.
CITI is a non-profit developmental organisation.
In its letter, CITI urges Irwin to "let a thousand small business flowers bloom".
"If any technology is able to provide Africa with a pathway into the developed world economy it is the Internet, which brings Africa`s citizens closer to the American, European and Asian markets," the organisation says. "VOIP and the lowered cost it can achieve stands to dramatically enhance the level of economic interaction between business people in SA and the developed markets."
It also makes no bones about its interpretation of the proposed ban.
"Banning VOIP is an attempt to swim against the tide of progress," the letter reads.
It calls for a fuller deregulation approach and "avoidance of any temptation to put obstacles in the way of a competitive environment".
Glen Thompson, co-ordinator of the letter, says CITI hopes Irwin will take up the fight in Parliament as telecommunications policy is debated.
"We have been in contact with DTI [the Department of Trade and Industry], at it seemed there is still some departmental communication underway on the issue," he says. "It seemed possible that minister Irwin wanted concrete comments that can be debated on parliamentary level."
Thompson says CITI is concerned that the Department of Communications may have a short-term view, and may be trying to maximise the value of Telkom and the second national operator at the expense of small businesses. It is hoped that DTI, with its goal of growing the total economy, may be more receptive to the business argument CITI is presenting.
Thompson describes the letter as falling "within the ambit of an entrepreneurial response to the business issues we face".
CITI was involved in the Cape Telecommunications Users Forum official input in the telecommunications policy last month, and says approaching Irwin is a supplementary response.
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