LETTERS - VoIP, Delapidation
Let's take advantage of VoIPBy Francis Malama, California
Tuesday April 17, 2007 [04:00]
Last week in the Business Post was an article saying communication minister Peter Daka has outlawed VoIP? Folks VoIP is upon us whether we like it or not, if the government and Zamtel do not wake up and smell the coffee.
In 5 - 10 years Zamtel will be no more. At this point VoIP has matured. It’s not a question of whether VoIP is the future. That question was answered a long time ago, VoIP is the future. Zamtel and its government (ZIG) have an opportunity to do one of two things:
Invest in VoIP and change the way Zamtel does business in order to position itself in the new era of communication or sit and wait for the inevitable. If they choose to site, they will find themselves in a far worse situation than ZCCM found itself in.
In USA the big Telco (AT&T, Verizon etc) have decided to join the band wagon instead of fighting the new technological breakthrough in the areas of information technology and telephone. They have started phasing out their redundant PSTN systems and replacing them with new technology.
In the next 10 to 15 years, there will be no PSTN lines in USA. But here in Zambia we have people like Peter Daka leading our technological way to the future with no idea the impact or implications of his statements. Unfortunately, people like him make up more than 80 per cent of our leaders; people with no knowledge of what is going on in the world.
What we should be hearing from him is setting up committees to establish the impact of VoIP on Zamtel and help the ‘geniuses’ at Zamtel to realise the urgency of the matter.
Issuing such threats to people and businesses that are trying to lower their operational costs is in itself providing a false sense of comfort and protection for Zamtel. The Zambian government should start providing leadership in these issues. We all know the government cannot protect Zamtel from itself.
Zambia is a country where the rule of law prevails over personal opinion and preference. Daka may not like VoIP because at the moment it appears VoIP is killing Zamtel.
The Zambian government has no control over the internet. Also there is no law that allows the government to decide on behalf of the internet subscriber how they use their internet connection after paying for it. Putting these two facts in mind, a person with an internet connection can make a call to anywhere in the world using VoIP at 10 times cheaper than using Zamtel phone services.
You tell me if I have an internet connection and I want to call a friend in UK, why should I use Zamtel?
Right now a company does not have to be resident in Zambia in order to provide VoIP to Zambians interested in making international calls.
I’m sure everybody knows that internet is expensive in Zambia because of the unreasonable licensing fee of $40,000 that the government requires for a business to become an ISP. Such measures are counterproductive. Statistics today show that there is seven (7) thousand internet subscribers today in Zambia. Yet we have more than 300,000 internet users.
This means people can’t afford internet connections in their homes but they would rather go to an internet cafe. If the price for the ISP was reasonable like $1,000.00 you would have double the number of ISP’s in Zambia today, the number of jobs created by the internet industry would double or even triple. The number of subscribers would quadruple and for Magande, that’s how you expand your tax base not just by taxing street venders.
Zambia like many third world countries is blessed because it doesn’t have to invent technology, more especially in the high-tech industry. All we have to do is position ourselves to take advantage of the new technologies on which the West has spent so many billions in research and development.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=25316
Let's take advantage of VoIP
By Francis Malama, California
Tuesday April 17, 2007 [04:00]
Last week in the Business Post was an article saying communication minister Peter Daka has outlawed VoIP? Folks VoIP is upon us whether we like it or not, if the government and Zamtel do not wake up and smell the coffee.
In 5 - 10 years Zamtel will be no more. At this point VoIP has matured. It’s not a question of whether VoIP is the future. That question was answered a long time ago, VoIP is the future. Zamtel and its government (ZIG) have an opportunity to do one of two things:
Invest in VoIP and change the way Zamtel does business in order to position itself in the new era of communication or sit and wait for the inevitable. If they choose to site, they will find themselves in a far worse situation than ZCCM found itself in.
In USA the big Telco (AT&T, Verizon etc) have decided to join the band wagon instead of fighting the new technological breakthrough in the areas of information technology and telephone. They have started phasing out their redundant PSTN systems and replacing them with new technology.
In the next 10 to 15 years, there will be no PSTN lines in USA. But here in Zambia we have people like Peter Daka leading our technological way to the future with no idea the impact or implications of his statements. Unfortunately, people like him make up more than 80 per cent of our leaders; people with no knowledge of what is going on in the world.
What we should be hearing from him is setting up committees to establish the impact of VoIP on Zamtel and help the ‘geniuses’ at Zamtel to realise the urgency of the matter.
Issuing such threats to people and businesses that are trying to lower their operational costs is in itself providing a false sense of comfort and protection for Zamtel. The Zambian government should start providing leadership in these issues. We all know the government cannot protect Zamtel from itself.
Zambia is a country where the rule of law prevails over personal opinion and preference. Daka may not like VoIP because at the moment it appears VoIP is killing Zamtel.
The Zambian government has no control over the internet. Also there is no law that allows the government to decide on behalf of the internet subscriber how they use their internet connection after paying for it. Putting these two facts in mind, a person with an internet connection can make a call to anywhere in the world using VoIP at 10 times cheaper than using Zamtel phone services.
You tell me if I have an internet connection and I want to call a friend in UK, why should I use Zamtel?
Right now a company does not have to be resident in Zambia in order to provide VoIP to Zambians interested in making international calls.
I’m sure everybody knows that internet is expensive in Zambia because of the unreasonable licensing fee of $40,000 that the government requires for a business to become an ISP. Such measures are counterproductive. Statistics today show that there is seven (7) thousand internet subscribers today in Zambia. Yet we have more than 300,000 internet users.
This means people can’t afford internet connections in their homes but they would rather go to an internet cafe. If the price for the ISP was reasonable like $1,000.00 you would have double the number of ISP’s in Zambia today, the number of jobs created by the internet industry would double or even triple. The number of subscribers would quadruple and for Magande, that’s how you expand your tax base not just by taxing street venders.
Zambia like many third world countries is blessed because it doesn’t have to invent technology, more especially in the high-tech industry. All we have to do is position ourselves to take advantage of the new technologies on which the West has spent so many billions in research and development.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=25314
National development
By George Makubalo, South Africa
Tuesday April 17, 2007 [04:00]
I recently visited Zambia after being away for almost three years. Landing at the Lusaka International Airport immediately brings one home to the fact that one is in a totally different space. Driving through the city confirms one's fears; that far from progressing, Zambia is going backwards.
If a country's infrastructure is an important indication of the progress a country is making - Lusaka tells it all. The once-famed Cairo Road is a pale shadow of its former self. I struggled to find any sign of infrastructural improvements to many of the ancient buildings that litter the town centre. The 'insured' ZNBS building that was gutted by a fire some years ago is now covered with a tapaulin (or whatever material it is) advertising a cellphone company.
Even the beautiful fountains and flower beds at Kabwe round-about on the northern end of Cairo Road are gone. A drive into Kabwe is even more chilling - it's now a dusty, pot-holed town with peeling shopfronts. Surely what has happened to our country?
We have been deceived when reading about Zambia from outside.
A false image of a country recovering from an inglorious corrupt past has been portrayed. We have been told that things are improving. Well, that is not the sense I got during my brief visit.
Zambia is still one of the most under-developed places on earth, and yet some people seem content with the status quo.
They in fact go to great lengths reifying the status quo. I feel it's time we as a country demanded something better because things can be better.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=25309
Public media reporting
By Concerned citizen
Tuesday April 17, 2007 [04:00]
I would like to add a voice to the current debate on the public media’s unprofessional reporting. In Zambia we allow Zambia National Broadcasting Corparation, Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail to get away with false reporting. There is a lot of hypocrisy and manipulation in news coverage.
And it was all revealed, in the MMD-Katumbi $7m maize scandal. I wonder how VJ will live with his conscience; probably he will get the opportunity to tell the story as it is.
I feel that the coverage of the whole story on VJs interview in Congo DR by the public media was atrocious to say the least. The journalists did this by creating a narrative, trying to cover their ignorance with drama. They wanted to create a personal story around VJ.
The handling of the story was a scandal of huge proportion. It is the responsibility of public media to inform the Zambian citizenry on events as they unfold rather than perpetuate lies.
I would like to thank The Post for their excellent investigative and professional reporting.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=25310
Truthfulness is vital
By MM,Lusaka
Tuesday April 17, 2007 [04:00]
The most serious benchmark for effective and true journalism is anchored on the Biblical scripture: ‘For we cannot do anything against the truth but for it’. (2 Cor.13:8).
Regarding the distoration of facts by the public media on the issues surrounding the statement by the presidential envoy to Congo DR, Vernon Mwaanga, I advise the Times of Zambia and the Zambia Daily Mail to first establish the truth before they write based on information that may not be true.
Journalism requires establishing a matter in truth. Scribes everywhere are supposed to be professionals who live by telling the truth. Indeed, a soldier dies by the bullet, a professor dies through plagerism, a politician through lies and journalists die by peddling lies. Journalists are always known for sticking to the truth under whatever circumstances.
They are the mirror of society and as such, should show the picture as it is. Allow people to make a perfect judgement. If anything, I would even request ZNBC to get a copy of the video and broadcast it for the whole nation to see. We are not dealing with a small matter.
Even President Mwanawasa is keen to establish the truth. My knowledge of him so far is that he is a man about to effect justice. Once he establishes the truth, he will spare no one, not even the public media heads for misleading the nation. We should know the truth so that we are set free.
COMMENT - How about having a road built by two companies - one on the one end, the other from the other hand. The company that completes their half of the road first and on specification, wins the rest of the contract. Just a thought.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=25311
Shoddy works on Chipata-Lundazi road
By John Zgambo
Tuesday April 17, 2007 [04:00]
Some 6 months ago, I took a trip for the first time in 20 years to my village in Lundazi. I flew into Chipata and took a car to Lundazi.
This was a nightmare of a drive. But I noticed that there was some work (very shoddy) going on at the time on the road. A few days later, I read in the press an article attributed to Bizwayo Nkunika to the effect that he was happy with the quality of work going on at the time on the same road. I couldn't believe it but realising I am not an engineer, I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
Two weeks ago, I took the same trip again flying into Chipata. This time around I decided to get on a bus because I didn't want to subject a car (even if hired) to the potholes I had experienced earlier.
The trip took us 4 hours and 20 minutes (Less than 200 km) on an RPS bus and clearly the road was in a worse condition than I had seen 5 months earlier and I kept on looking out for any sign of patches that the contractor had done and I could not see any.
Although I am still not an engineer, it is clear that the good works that were done were only for one rainy season
Labels: DEVELOPMENT, GOVERNANCE, VOIP, ZAMTEL
posted by MrK @ 3:21 PM
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