NRA Websites: Benchmarking National Telecom Regulatory Authority Websites is the title of a report just published by LIRNE.NET. The report takes a detailed look at the state of regulatory authority websites in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and North America and identifies benchmarking indicators for evaluating them.
Alison Gillwald, director of the Research ICT Africa (RIA!) network, in her article published in South Africa’s Business Day, reports on the significance and implications of the most recent ruling by the Pretoria High Court denying the Communications Minister’s application for an urgent interdict to prevent South Africa regulatory authority (ICASA) from issuing certain licences.
“While those who would finally be able to enter the market unconstrained have been rubbing their hands in glee at these rulings — and those who thought they had got in through the flawed licensing process and closed the door behind them gnashed their teeth — not much has been said about the significance of Judge Norman Davis’s carefully reasoned judgment reasserting a sound institutional and administrative basis for a sector so long paralysed by indecision.”
Click here to read the full Business Day article by Gillwald.
| 17/11/2008 | ||
| 17:30 | to | 18:00 |
The LINK Centre is holding a free public seminar entitled, ‘South Africa, communications services and 2010 – e-readiness or e-rockiness?‘
The World Cup 2010. Two years and counting. South Africa’s telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures are being upgraded for the event. Where does the work stand in 2008? Will South Africa’s communications services be up to scratch? Or is it time for a new coach? Or, are we playing for sudden death?
Will Hahn, Gartner Principal Analyst, Carrier Operations and Strategies Worldwide, has been tracking the South African ICT sector for many years. Join us on 17 November 2008 to hear Will’s thoughts on the local communications space, and how South Africa fares with the 2010 countdown clock ticking.
The LINK Centre, Graduate School of Public Policy & Management, Wits University, and the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering cordially invite you to a free public seminar by Will Hahn entitled ‘South Africa, communications services and 2010 – e-readiness or e-rockiness?’
Date: Monday, 17 November 2008
Time: 17:30 for 18:00
Venue: Classroom F, Mwalimu House, School of Public and Development Management, 2 St David’s Place, Parktown
RSVP: lauren.aca2k [at] gmail.com (or 084-582-0422)
This seminar is a must for everyone interested in ICT sector issues, from both a policy and a regulatory point of view, as well as from a business perspective.
Will Hahn is Gartner’s Principal Analyst, Carrier Operations and Strategies Worldwide, where he is part of the worldwide communications group. He assists with a variety of worldwide and public sectors, including public services in Latin America and Middle East/Africa. He tracks the submarine cable markets worldwide, and he is insight lead for the carrier operations and strategies team. Prior to joining Gartner, Will worked as an inquiry analyst for Northern Business Information in New York City. Before that, he taught ancient-medieval history for 13 years at private preparatory schools in upstate New York.
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
Alison Gillwald, director of the Research ICT Africa (RIA!) network, in her article published in Business Day observes “the significance of the communications ministry’s decision to appeal against a recent high court ruling setting aside certain prohibitions in the telecommunications sector and the upholding of the automatic conversion of rights into the new licensing regime may have been lost.”
With the bottom three quintiles of South Africans paying close to 20% of their income on communications, according to a recent national survey by Research ICT Africa!, against 5% in peer economies, consumers and businesses may well ask what drives the continued defence of the policy of “managed liberalisation”, of which high prices and poor access are the outcome.
Click here to read the full Business Day article by Gillwald.
The Research ICT Africa (RIA!) August 2008 Policy Brief is based on the preliminary analysis of the Individual and Household ICT Survey undertaken by the network.
The policy brief provides a snapshot of ICT development in Ghana, which has not been robust despite the country having been amongst the early reformers of the African ICT sector. In spite of improvements in certain sector segments, others such as household fixed line, internet access and public telephones, need policy support to catalyse their development.
Click here to download the RIA! Policy Brief (PDF format)
For further information about this report, contact:
Dr. Godfred Frempong <gkfrempong [at] stepri.csir.org.gh>
