OFF TOPIC :FOR THE TECH SAVVY, IS THIS FAIR???

[JT]

I may be wrong but isn't this exploitation?

1st of all >> http://allafrica.com/stories/201008231101.html

so i am impressed but curious so i go check their prices on the Vodafone site and i was shocked...

>>> http://www.vodafone.com.gh/Personal/Int ... rview.aspx

>>>over $200 for 4mb download speed? ...or i'm wrong?,...some tech guru here should school me then

PS...meanwhile i pay $59 for the download speed displayed below and this is in a G8 capital city

[tfco]

good find.

Looking at the vodafone prices, it appears anything Heavy User and up is geared towards small businesses. Would be nuts for a household to spend GHc200 + for internet every month

we use Zain as ISP; not quite sure the speed but it is pretty decent.

[Kofikoduah]

I may be wrong but isn't this exploitation?

1st of all >> http://allafrica.com/stories/201008231101.html

so i am impressed but curious so i go check their prices on the Vodafone site and i was shocked...

>>> http://www.vodafone.com.gh/Personal/Int ... rview.aspx

>>>over $200 for 4mb download speed? ...or i'm wrong?,...some tech guru here should school me then

PS...meanwhile i pay $59 for the download speed displayed below and this is in a G8 capital city

I think you are missing quite a few essentials. Bandwidth is a commodity in our part of the world because of the cost of providing the service and the volume of users available to patronize the service. I believe there is an inverse relationship at play when it comes to bandwidth in Africa. Let's be realistic, the more people there are for a service, the cheaper it is to provide that service. It's called economies of scale. Looking at the bandwidth data in your post i can conclude you are somewhere in north america, a place where information systems infrastructure development is a good 50-70yrs ahead of ours. We place more emphasis on bringing people out poverty and rasing the standard of living of the ordinary ghanaian. Internet penetration in Ghana is a little over 4% that works out to about 997,000. Couple this with fierce competition and a minimum capital expenditure of about $ 0.5-1million (in only hardware no licenses) for a moderate population of 50,000. This capex assumes delivery of internet services over copper at analogue speeds. Enter broadband and existing infrastructure needs to be upgraded if not overhauled and we are talking about 2 to 3 times the amount just for last mile solutions. Yes we can talk about alternative delivery technologies, however, Wi-max costs about $10million to cover an area the size of accra, about $5milion for the License, Fiber - to the home or to the building is way out of the question as new fiber must be dropped in and around the are of delivery. With those penetration levels, it is evident that a provider will not be breaking even for a very long time without charging exorbitantly for the bandwidth and the equipment payback. We can see these prices drop as penetration increases beyond the 10% mark. However providers will still be upgrading their infrastructure to provide better service and that comes at a cost.

It's not fair i must agree. But it's all about cost and user volumes.

[Kel$]

^^^^ explains internet pricing.

We place more emphasis on bringing people out poverty and rasing the standard of living of the ordinary ghanaian.

Bra Kofi do u work for Vodaphone Ghana? if so whats up with the sudden hike in landline prices ?

[Kofikoduah]

^^^^ explains internet pricing.

We place more emphasis on bringing people out poverty and rasing the standard of living of the ordinary ghanaian.

Bra Kofi do u work for Vodaphone Ghana? if so whats up with the sudden hike in landline prices ?

Unfortunately, I don't work with Vodafone. I do however, understand the variables that go into the pricing of Telecoms-related services.

Ghana runs like a pseudo-communist, sorry socialist country where the government tends to subsidize almost anything it has control over. Usually utility companies are the culprits. These utility companies tend to be monopolies in their respective industries. Ghana Telecom is no different in that structure. Except, now they have stiff competition, it is now investor owned (yes, 70% Vodafone, 30% GoG) and their two main objectives are now increased shareholder value and service quality rather than the previous satisfying a social need.

Quality is not cheap. And they certainly are not running a father Christmas charity venture. Thus in exchange for quality you must pay a little bit, no, a lot more as they are still a fixed line monopoly only investor owned. Monopoly was the key factor that drove the acquisition of GT by Vodafone.

The only way we can see fixed line prices go down is if any or all of the following happens:

1. it penetrates significantly the whole country and thus there are more users.

2. There is a strategic carve-out to unbundle the telephone/copper lines into a holding company that sells equal access to the lines. This in effect should promote competition and choice to consumers driving prices down. Simple economics lower supply for a highly demanded product - Higher price. Higher supply of a highly demanded product - Lower/OK enough price.

3. Government buys back the 70% - That will cost more than the US$900m that was paid.

Again as i concluded yesterday, it is a cost, volume, competition issue or simply a demand and supply issue.

[Kel$]

Interesting.

[JT]

I may be wrong but isn't this exploitation?

1st of all >> http://allafrica.com/stories/201008231101.html

so i am impressed but curious so i go check their prices on the Vodafone site and i was shocked...

>>> http://www.vodafone.com.gh/Personal/Int ... rview.aspx

>>>over $200 for 4mb download speed? ...or i'm wrong?,...some tech guru here should school me then

PS...meanwhile i pay $59 for the download speed displayed below and this is in a G8 capital city

I think you are missing quite a few essentials. Bandwidth is a commodity in our part of the world because of the cost of providing the service and the volume of users available to patronize the service. I believe there is an inverse relationship at play when it comes to bandwidth in Africa. Let's be realistic, the more people there are for a service, the cheaper it is to provide that service. It's called economies of scale. Looking at the bandwidth data in your post i can conclude you are somewhere in north america, a place where information systems infrastructure development is a good 50-70yrs ahead of ours. We place more emphasis on bringing people out poverty and rasing the standard of living of the ordinary ghanaian. Internet penetration in Ghana is a little over 4% that works out to about 997,000. Couple this with fierce competition and a minimum capital expenditure of about $ 0.5-1million (in only hardware no licenses) for a moderate population of 50,000. This capex assumes delivery of internet services over copper at analogue speeds. Enter broadband and existing infrastructure needs to be upgraded if not overhauled and we are talking about 2 to 3 times the amount just for last mile solutions. Yes we can talk about alternative delivery technologies, however, Wi-max costs about $10million to cover an area the size of accra, about $5milion for the License, Fiber - to the home or to the building is way out of the question as new fiber must be dropped in and around the are of delivery. With those penetration levels, it is evident that a provider will not be breaking even for a very long time without charging exorbitantly for the bandwidth and the equipment payback. We can see these prices drop as penetration increases beyond the 10% mark. However providers will still be upgrading their infrastructure to provide better service and that comes at a cost.

It's not fair i must agree. But it's all about cost and user volumes.

i need advice Sir. PM please

[Pax Africana]

^^^^ explains internet pricing.

We place more emphasis on bringing people out poverty and rasing the standard of living of the ordinary ghanaian.

Bra Kofi do u work for Vodaphone Ghana? if so whats up with the sudden hike in landline prices ?

Unfortunately, I don't work with Vodafone. I do however, understand the variables that go into the pricing of Telecoms-related services.

Ghana runs like a pseudo-communist, sorry socialist country where the government tends to subsidize almost anything it has control over. Usually utility companies are the culprits. These utility companies tend to be monopolies in their respective industries. Ghana Telecom is no different in that structure. Except, now they have stiff competition, it is now investor owned (yes, 70% Vodafone, 30% GoG) and their two main objectives are now increased shareholder value and service quality rather than the previous satisfying a social need.

Quality is not cheap. And they certainly are not running a father Christmas charity venture. Thus in exchange for quality you must pay a little bit, no, a lot more as they are still a fixed line monopoly only investor owned. Monopoly was the key factor that drove the acquisition of GT by Vodafone.

The only way we can see fixed line prices go down is if any or all of the following happens:

1. it penetrates significantly the whole country and thus there are more users.

2. There is a strategic carve-out to unbundle the telephone/copper lines into a holding company that sells equal access to the lines. This in effect should promote competition and choice to consumers driving prices down. Simple economics lower supply for a highly demanded product - Higher price. Higher supply of a highly demanded product - Lower/OK enough price.

3. Government buys back the 70% - That will cost more than the US$900m that was paid.

Again as i concluded yesterday, it is a cost, volume, competition issue or simply a demand and supply issue.

On the contrary, you could create an inhibitor to macroeconomic growth in the long run boss if the "Towerco" or their Fixed Network equivalent was slow in the uptake of new technologies or wasn't managed properly. Joint venture or national Towercos especially are an interesting business model but yet to be fully understood impact-wise. Only Russia and Kenya have been bold enough to announce long term ambitions in that regard.