On Thursday 07 April 2005 17:39, Henry wrote: > Isnt the onus on the providers to show the people what they can do with the > service
Yes, and no. Connectivity providers (the basic service from an ISP) do not necessarily have tons of value-added services to offer by default (especially in small, uncompetitive markets), apart from the age-old e-mail, FTP, web and DNS. There are several ISP's that have realised connectivity isn't really that profitable, and actually sell connectivity as a value-add to other mainstream services (voice, unified messaging, VPN's, e.t.c.). Small ISP's outsource core service-oriented companies (Badru mentioned of Metrocomia, SMS Media, 197, e.t.c.), bigger ISP's have an in-house service group that handles web design, product development, R&D, e.t.c. If you want an ISP to be all these things, it depends on market-size, budget and revenue. In most developing countries, almost all ISP's can't be this, so they leave it to others who do it as a core business - good thing or bad thing, your call. A good example is looking at how ISP's run their Internet business and how telco's run their Internet business. > Way the mobile operators keep telling us how we can check for the weather > and stuff on our fons? Yes, but if you look behind the curtain, mobile operators aren't actually building the content - they are outsourcing it to the 197's and 198's of this world, and only pushing the marketing campaign, since they have the muscle. They have built the road (wireless network) and content providers are pushing content (197, 198). If it warranted, GSM operators would have business units that did this, but if someone else is already doing it, expertly, why dilute your core business? It disrupts your focus. An example of this, MTN-SA has started pushing GPRS on their network, as have the other GSM providers. They have an IP backbone which they use to provide Internet service to their customers, but are, to a great extent, using the IP services of another "Tier 1-like" ISP in ZA for this, as that ISP has expert experience in dealing with mobile Internet from a deployment, management and billing perspective. MTN-SA are happy! > > Eg: Don't you think radio/ tv operators would love for people to stream > local talk shows onto their computers at home and office ? Probably, but it's mostly a gimmick... it might not make financial sense for a media operator to get into this. In fact, with broadband now being used to converge voice, video and data, clients are now getting options to have Tv over IP, from ISP's no less. Depending on pricing/business models, this could mean considerable loss of business to the radio and Tv guys. This is partly the reason cable companies got into the broadband gig, better utilization of their coax as well significant customer retention. > But who would dare to venture into such a "complex" process unless they had > someone from MTN, infocom .. to hold their hand for the first few sessions These are all business decisions. That said, if one person did everything, there wouldn't be any healthy competition, which would affect service deployment and quality. You decide what you are good at, invest in it, and leave others to do what they are good at. If you can work as a team, even better. However, it's not always this simple, as we have seen. > > If the road is already there > Someone better show us how to drive on it else we shall just use it to dry > cassava like they do on the Tirinyi - Mbale highway ! Yes, but what you forget is that Toyota, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Mazda, Maserati, Ferrari, Honda and a few other hundred car manufacturers do not include the "How to drive a car in 10 days" manual when you take the car out of the showroom. There are driving schools for that, and that is their core business. Driving schools don't build cars, car manufacturers aren't driving schools. Mark. > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Badru Ntege > Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 6:11 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Linux Users Group Uganda' > Subject: RE: [LUG] GMAIl now at 2GB > > You've got that wrong mate, if we did everything that has potential of > making money you would be a jack of all trades and a master of non. > > As much as we do a number of other businesses I will not be able to do web > designing as well as metrocomia does. I have an sms service running, > however I know it is suplimentary to what I do and I will not easily do it > as well as 198 or 197, however I still do it. That's how a business man > thinks. The more other people do these supplementary services the more we > all benefit. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 7:44 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Linux Users Group Uganda > Subject: RE: [LUG] GMAIl now at 2GB > > > Badru > > > But guys I know I'm boring you but you are the guys who should create > > the > content to feel these pipes then you will enjoy the fruits. > > If I were to think like the business man you are, I would be asking my > self one question mainly: > > Why are you pushing the content issue to others? > > Answer: > Maybe it doesnt make business sense as yet because if it was, I am very > sure you would have jumped onto that bandwagon way back. I know that for a > fact because I have seen the efforts of ISPs to diversify beyond their > core business. > > wire > > > Wire HMK > > > > The bottom line is the bandwidth is there, kampala is one of those few > > towns > > on the continent with full fibre. But guys I know I'm boring you but you > > are the guys who should create the content to feel these pipes then you > > will > > enjoy the fruits. > > > > As long as we do not have local content it does not matter who comes on > > the > > market, at the end of the day if our content is out there we have to pay > > for > > the satellite (thin Pipe). > > > > As I have said before take control of the content issue and your problems > > will be halved. Our friends I the UK view mostly local content not that > > we > > will get there in the next few years but on a relative scale we can be on > > par if we focus on the main issue. > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > LUG mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > > %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > _______________________________________________ > LUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > > _______________________________________________ > LUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ _______________________________________________ LUG mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug %LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
