Dear Alice, "The world is a market place where men goods are on the display, the label is more important than the contents and the price more fascinating than the value" Alex On 5/7/07, alice <alice@apc.org> wrote:
Diverting a little-
There is an E-learning conference to be held in Nairobi (safari Park) the registration fees are a whooping EUR 500. Now if indeed we have to think seriously of creating mutually beneficial partnerships that benefit citizens and by extension enhance development how would civil society groups including community based organisations engage and indeed benefit from attending such conferences to learn to enable them to take advantage of for example, infrastructure, enabling policy regulatory environment, to enhance e-learning in our schools in marginalised areas?
alice
Alex Gakuru wrote:
Allow me speak a little deeper "Kenyan" to put the point across citing discussed and concluded OFC and we risk being led into mark timing in OFC tar pit by oligopolists engineers whose ultimate prize is e-government content flowing through "their network". This ultimate prize is worth trying anything because at this moment in time, that dream is highly threatened.
One gets the impression there are deep-seated fears regarding market positioning with the imminent true competition that is round the corner.
Forget "National Development", "Consumers", "Universal Access" - those will be collateral casualties along the way. This far, consumers menu is BOLDLY printed by as follows:
1. Recipe:- Private Sector (wants, need, partners, sponsors, social responsibility...)
Appetizer (WiFi) 1. Butterflies 2. Butterflies 3. Butterflies ...
Wine MAXima (WiMAX the - drink) 1. MINE 2. MINE 3. MINE ....
FIBRE Main Course -I want and must have it all, I will pull a few for my telco buddies....
Dessert Consumed (Consumers) ------- No need to repeat "competition alone despite all that is said about it was *not* known to benefit consumers. Particularly where duopolies or oligopolies exits because Product and Price shadowing often takes centre stage and one is not sure that the alternatives are not exorbitant. The regulator must also enforce QOS.
He added that the consumer must also be ready for a vibrant market and take up alternatives that make the best "cents". He /She must be able to walk out and perhaps to an ombudsman (regulator) where QOS is not as per SLA or other" <OFC_Online_Discussion_Report2.doc>
I do not see anything wrong with a cost conscious government saving on all telephone calls and by having a government-owned network throughout the country by investing wisely on cheap fibre cable. (telcom) private sector is broader that 2 GSM duopolist, a couple of PDNOs, and a few LLOs.
Alex ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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