A battered dog called Telkom

The news story of this week was undoubtedly Vodacom's announcement that it is preparing to move into the fixed-line market.

CEO Alan Knott-Craig said the company would roll out its own fixed-line network - in line with global trends. This move, of course, will place SA's biggest mobile operator on a collision course with Telkom. And you have to agree, the fixed-line monopoly is certainly starting to look more and more like a battered dog these days.

The Vodacom move is sure to take a bite out of Telkom's fixed-line market share, and this is on top of an expected 10% market share loss to Neotel within the next five years - a figure which could prove to be some wishful thinking on Telkom's part.

But, let's face it, not many South Africans are likely to shed a tear for Telkom - and to say that contempt for the company is rather widespread would be an understatement. It must say something when your 50% subsidiary is willing to step into the ring with you with ambitions of giving you a royal beating.

Perhaps this explains the recent exodus of senior executives from Telkom; you know, rats and sinking ships and all that...

Finally, politicians who tell the truth. ITWeb reported on Friday that public enterprises minister (aka phone minister number two) Alec Erwin and former communications minister Jay Naidoo admitted that SA's telecoms policy, for more than a decade, had been a "bad mistake". Yes, a BAD mistake.

Ok, so they are stating the obvious, but at least they're being refreshingly candid about it.

Hey, at this stage, the privatisation process might as well be speculation and I'm beginning to wonder if arivia even exists.

Martin Czernowalow, ITWeb news editor

Speaking during a debate at the World Economic Forum, Erwin said: "It had been a bad mistake not to invest in the basic core [telecommunications network], as we need so much more capacity there."

He conceded that now the country was lagging in its broadband capacity for a number of large projects, such as the Square Kilometre Array, for academic research and the broadcasting needs of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Erwin then arrived at the only conclusion possible: "What we need now is a gigantic leap forward."

Yeah, you broke it; why don't you fix it?

At the beginning of this week, we reported that Gauteng's pathology service has received R83.7 million for state-of-the-art IT, bringing it in line with "modern requirements".

The IT spend is reportedly being used to computerise the state mortuary database and to set up a Web site that will allow families to identify and claim bodies.

This is expected to alleviate Gauteng's traditionally high throughput of unidentified bodies, many of whom are given paupers' funerals, because they end up unclaimed.

I'm glad they've finally put this issue to rest.

On a lighter note, the arivia.kom sale has been delayed until next March for finalisation. Government initially saw itself wrapping things up by the end of the year, but it did not take long for that overly-ambitious idea to get derailed.

Formal requests for proposals will only be issued in mid-July, and the five short-listed bidders will then be able to fight it out for two lucrative state outsourcing contracts - and arivia.

Strangely, while this is one of the most anticipated privatisations in the IT space, government has decided to remain mum. Unfortunately, sources close to the sale have not, so all you get to read about arivia is, officially, speculation.

It is speculated that the sale has been pushed back, it is speculated that there are five short-listed bidders, and it is similarly speculated that arivia is in serious financial and operational poo. Hey, at this stage, the privatisation process might as well be speculation and I'm beginning to wonder if arivia even exists.

Ooh, secrets. Conspiracy. Cloak and dagger.

I'd love to believe this is all some big conspiracy, perhaps driven by some underground society to which only public enterprises minister Alec Erwin knows the secret handshake. But, I fear it is rather a case of incompetent and lazy communications officials. How unromantic.

Oh wait, I just found some proof that arivia does exist. This week, transport minister Jeff Radebe announced that the consortium behind the little oopsie that is eNatis will not be subjected to penalties.

Arivia's Face Technologies is part of eNatis developer, the Tasima consortium, which is in no way to blame for the colossal screw up that you, the motorist, will have to pay for - remember that extra R30?

Way to go Jeff. Love your work.