Comments on: What must be done to fix Icasa

By: Ned

Ned — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:21:31 +0000

Agree with Mr. Steve Song. If you read a book ” Fat cats and running dogs” about Enron, the case of Alan Knott-Craig becomes clear. And no surprise that he wants to run ICASA as a business. Would R 3 billion in budget give ICASA a muscle against big guns? If Alan Knott-Craig sits in ICASA that doesn’t matter. What ICASA is supposed doing doesn’t take R 3 billion to do. I remember listening to Radio 702 interview with Mr. Alan Knott-Craig in which he battled and managed not to disclose the real cost of interconnecting. To the direct question about the real cost of interconnecting, he said that all information is publicly available. I felt it as a slap in the face. Obviously, he doesn’t understands his role as the regulator of communication sector moraly obliged to disclose full information to public, but to protect “fat cats”.
When we know where he is coming from, we know what the answer is. He is “running dog”. Again, read “Fat cats and running dogs”. It is an eye opener.

By: Matthew French

Matthew French — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:42:12 +0000

One minor observation: many if not all the 3G licenses in Europe were sold by auction, so the operators determined the price of a license. Not sure how the regulators can be blamed for the operator’s dot-com fueled exuberance.

By: James

James — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:59:03 +0000

@ Steve: Agreed, however all companies have to maximize profit. It is their duty to their shareholders and it is the only yardstick by which we can judge them in a monetary system. Business ethics is an oxymoron in this system. As we all know, the best way to maximize profit is to create monopoly and create barriers to entry- companies do this by amongst other things political lobby for protective legislation, technological unemployment and rarely…..innovation. Alan should not really be blamed for his past… he was working in the only way he and most of us know how in this monetary system. BUT maybe there is a system where there is not the corrupting influence of money. Check out thevenusproject.com and thezeitgeistmovement.com to find out more about what’s possible

By: Steve Song

Steve Song — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:45:30 +0000

Sorry, but this like having the man who stole your horses come back with advice on how to build a better barn door. From my perspective Alan Knott-Craig has forfeited his right to offer this sort of advice. ICASA may be awful but companies like Vodacom have conspired to make it worse by bombarding it with litigious delays, obfuscations, and other legal interventions all aimed at resisting change and especially resisting new competition.