Here's a couple of informative articles on the ongoing problem in South Africa with the telecom monopoly over there. Pricing and penetration are major concerns in the country, as only 30% of the population has a phone line (or can afford it). A South African has to pay up to 69% of his monthly income towards the ADSL service. Self-imposed line rentals are another concerned where you are charge a line rental fee on the actual copper line for the ADSL service, in addition to a phone line rental fee and ISP fees. The TELKOM SA, ADSL broadband service also imposes an unrealistic 3GB traffic cap on users of the service.
While the rest of the world is offering faster ADSL speeds, TELKOM seems to be going the other way by releasing 384k, then a 192k service. At present we have 512k offered as our fastest broadband service (the 192k, and 384k shouldn't even be considered broadband services).

The government has also had it's share in the problem, where it announced that it would allow VANs to self-provide their infrastructures and not depend on the monopoly's network. At the last minute the minister of communications retracted the statement.

A SNO (Second Network Operator) license has been legalized in the country to offer a competitive solution to the monopoly's deterimental affect on the country, but South Africans's will have to wait and see if there are any pricing and service benefits from the 2nd operator.

Here is a comparitive table highlighting the pricing and service differences between other countries offering ADSL: »www.hellkom.co.za/research/adsl2.htm

Govt admits SA telecoms prices ‘prohibitive'
»www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecom···EL&O=ql

South African Department of Communication admits failure
»www.moneyweb.co.za/news/tech_sto···179.htm

'Pricey phone calls choking SA growth'
»www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sund···44.aspx

Spending more on telephony than your bond?
»www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?ar···siness/

Only open market will solve bandwidth woes
»mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=466

China plans to invest 1.4 billion yuan ($169 million) in setting up an IPv6 backbone network to connect major cities before the end of 2005.The plan is part of the government’s efforts to start operations of the IP network in 2006. It will be the world's largest IPv6 network for commercial use by that time.

The first IPv6 commercial network in China is set to start operation in May, with China Telecom, China Unicom, China Netcom, China Mobile, and China TieTong, participating in the construction of the network. Some domestic analysts forecast that the Chinese telecom carriers would totally spend about 15 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) in buying IPv6 routers in the next five years.

Full article Telecom Asia

India and Pakistan are exploring a proposal to connect to each other through an optical-fiber cable link. The project, at a conceptual stage, may see Indian telecom companies partnering with Pakistan Telecommunication Company to connect Wagah and Mumbai through Amritsar.

LONDON-(Business Wire)

German Broadband Penetration Is Only 11.9 Percent, While Leading European Markets Are At 30 Percent

Germany risks falling further behind its European partners if it fails to approve KDG's proposed acquisition of its three rivals, and remove regulations that hinder competition in the media and communications markets. Strategy Analytics' latest report, 'German Cable At The Crossroads', finds that an enlarged Kabel Deutschland (KDG) would offer serious competition to Deutsche Telekom as a leading provider of broadband and digital services to Germany's 38 million homes, in spite of the significant investments required to upgrade the cable network.

"Germany faces a stark choice between a competitive market for advanced services and a stagnant market which serves the vested interests of the incumbent players," said David Mercer, Principal Analyst. "The fierce opposition of the leading media companies to a powerful cable industry suggests that the authorities are likely to support the status quo. In this case, Germany will continue to fall behind other European nations in broadband and digital TV adoption."

Full Story at TMCnet

By Tim Richardson
March 25, 2004

Telkom - South Africa's incumbent telco - has warned that consumers using VoIP could face legal action because it believes the use of such software is against the law.

And it's threatened to lodge a formal complaint with the regulator if it believes the problem is getting out of hand.
Story at The Register

By CHRIS BARTON

New statistics on fast internet takeup show New Zealand falling further behind Australia in the race to get broadband telecommunications.

Both countries are laggards in broadband uptake compared to the powerhouses of South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, but growth figures from the DSL Forum show Australia is about to leave New Zealand in its wake.

Continued @ The New Zealand Herald

17 Feb 2004 13:09
By Santosh Menon

LONDON (Reuters) - FLAG Telecom unveiled plans on Tuesday for a new undersea cable looping the Middle East and Hong Kong through India, as it looks to tap booming demand for telecoms capacity in those regions.

FLAG, acquired last year by Reliance Infocomm, a unit of India's Reliance group, said the 12,500-km terabit cable, due to be in service in early 2005, was expected to cost over $300 million.

02 February 2004
By RICHARD WOOD

The Fiji Electricity Authority is set to trial delivering broadband internet services over its power lines following the conclusion of a technical feasibility study.

German firm Bender Information and Systemtechnology is consulting on the project.

Dec 24, 5:51 PM EST
By JIM PAUL
Associated Press Writer

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Soon scientists in the United States, China and Russia will be able to collaborate over a new high-speed computer network that includes the first direct computer link across the Russia-China border.

Bharti Infotel Limited, has launched a WiFi service over DSL, in Delhi, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka circles.
The service will involve a Wireless Access Point bundled with Bharti's DSL connection. With the launch, Touchtel has become the country's first fixed line service provider of Wireless broadband services for residential and SME customers.
In the first phase, the DSL with WiFi offer is being provided for wireless surfing at homes and the Small Office Home Office (SOHO) and SMEs.
Full story here.

Level 3 Communications, Inc. today announced it has expanded its European network to Vienna, Austria.

New Zealand must include broadband in its new business ventures if it wishes to be successful in new business ventures. The government, community groups as well as business owners must be involved in the transitions for the "broadband revolution" to be successful, says an international analyst. Many blame the ISP/TELCO Telecom for the lag in implementing a successful broadband infrastructure. Buddlecom, an analyst that produces a annual report (released next week) suggests that government, not private companies to manage broadband locally in towns and villages for a successful venture into he broadband market.

Full text at: »www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,273···00.html

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

A year of development in high-speed internet services has failed to lift New Zealand's broadband penetration. Reports by the International Telecommunications Union and the OECD put us on the bottom rungs of the international ladder.

By ERIC SYLVERS
Published: November 3, 2003

ILAN, Nov. 2 - The capital of Italy's fashion industry prides itself on the ability to be first to identify a trend.

High-speed Internet connections in the European Union have doubled in the past year with some countries surpassing the United States in the booming sector, the EU telecommunications commissioner says.

"If there is one area in the European economy where there has been very dramatic change in the last six to 12 months, it is in broadband,'' Erkki Liikanen told reporters Wednesday after meeting heads of Europe's leading telecommunications operators and equipment makers.

"The growth rates in broadband are about 100 percent per year at the moment, and there seems to be no slowing down,'' he said. "A feeling of change is in the air.''

Full story here.

By Jan Libbenga

In a matter of weeks the Netherlands have turned into DSL heaven, with prices dropping as low as €14.95 a month. DSL users were used to €40 and €50 plans just two months ago.

06 October 2003
By HEATHER WRIGHT

Woosh Wireless - formerly Walker Wireless - is close to finalising an interconnect deal with Telecom which will let Woosh customers make phone calls to people on other telco networks using its broadband wireless modems.

Trials of the Internet telephony service are expected to begin next month.

October 3, 2003
Posted to the web October 3, 2003
Isaac Esipisu - Nairobi

Mobile telephone service provider, Safaricom, has launched an Internet and e-mail service for both business and personal use.

The service to be provided in partnership with Internet service provider, Wananchi Online, enables subscribers to send and receive e-mails and browse the Internet using mobile phones or a computer over the Safaricom network.

The European Union will commit one billion Euros for 236 R&D projects related to Information Society Technologies (IST). The R&R projects are aimed at extending today's Web, Internet and mobile communications technologies, transforming the delivery and performance of services and adding to their variety.
Full story here.

A satellite designed to offer two-way high-speed Internet service across all of Europe was launched late Saturday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.From its position in orbit above central Africa at 33 degrees East, its signal will cover all of the European Union (EU) and neighboring countries, from Scandinavia to the north coast of Africa and from the Atlantic to eastern Europe and Turkey. Within the EU, Eutelsat estimates up to 40 percent of the 26 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) currently do not have access to broadband and up to 10 percent never will be in a DSL service area.
Full story here.