(HERALD) Act fast on this emerging monopoly

Act fast on this emerging monopoly

EDITOR — There is a very worrying trend in the Information Communication Technologies sector, which requires urgent Government intervention.

If the issue is not urgently addressed, Zimbabwe would soon have a Bill Gates kind of scenario because at one point Microsoft software packages were found on almost every computer in the world, until the anti-monopolies trust in the European Union, in particular, ended up taking Bill Gates to court where he was heavily fined.
They also argued that Gates’ monopoly was stifling innovation, growth and competition in the ICT industry.

The question we should ask ourselves is, although Bill Gates is a savvy businessman, why did the EU take such a decisive action, which on face value seems as though it was an infringement on his rights?

When one mobile phone provider in the country now has more than two million people on its subscriber base, then we should start wondering whether the provider is not already monopolising the ICT industry.

Since it is still expanding, aren’t we going to have a situation where one company ends up controlling the whole industry, which translates into having a monopoly on what people say, to whom, and what they view and listen to, when and how?
With the convergence of ICTs where we are seeing the integration of technologies such as the Internet, television, radio and newspapers, what is the result of such a monopoly?

Simply put, Government should closely monitor the situation.
Cyberpunk Librarian.

Harare.