GHANA TELECOM SHUTS OFF OUTGOING ISP LINES

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Esther Dyson <edyson () edventure com>
Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2003 17:18:34 -0500
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: Fwd: RE: GHANA TELECOM SHUTS OFF OUTGOING ISP LINES

sorry, delayed by human in transmission!

Esther


> Subject: RE: GHANA TELECOM SHUTS OFF OUTGOING ISP LINES
> From: James Page <jamesp () PervasiveEdge com>
> To: William Wallis <angele.wallis () btopenworld com>,
>    richard dowden
>         <richarddowden () blueyonder co uk>,
>    Esther Dyson <edyson () edventure com>, John
>         West <salaahuddeen () hotmail com>,
>    Jpaczkowski () knightridder com, barlow () eff org
> Cc: eric osiakwan <eosiakwan () hotmail com>
> X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.0.3 (1.0.3-6)
> Date: 18 Feb 2003 22:10:12 +0000
> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 18 Feb 2003 22:15:06.0227 (UTC)
> FILETIME=[31077430:01C2D79B]
>
>
> If any of you are interested in this story I can get you allot more
> info...... The main issue is that Voice Over IP on dial up lines in
> Ghana is nearly imposable due to the bad quality of the lines.
>
> My own belief is that people are emailing and Instant Messaging instead
> of phoning. When a call to the states costs 80 cents a minute - what
> would you do.
>
> James
>
>
> This from http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/current1.html
>
>
> DESPERATE GHANA TELECOM SHUTS OFF OUTGOING ISP LINES, BLAMES VOIP BUT...
>
> Ten days ago Ghana Telecom put all the country's ISPs on one-way
> circuits so that they could only receive incoming calls. In a move
> uncannily reminiscent of Kenya Telkom's ISP shutdown before Christmas,
> Ghana Telecom is seeking to blame the loss of its international call
> revenue on ISPs doing VOIP. Eric Osiakwan and Russell Southwood seek to
> untangle the truth in this second high-profile, African clash over VOIP.
>
> One of the first signs that something was wrong came from a participant
> in a local mail-list who wrote:"Is Ghana Telecom cutting off
> ISPs??????????? Dial up to your ISP and u get beep beep beep. If it was
> one ISP it could be the usual lack of QOS (Quality of Service). But if
> it's all of them. IS GHANA TELECOM CUTTING OFF THE ISPs?."
>
> Before that Ghana Telecom had leaked to the Ghanaian press, the scale of
> its losses on international revenue. As we reported in last week's
> issue, the company has gone from earning US$42 million a year on its
> international telephone traffic to losing US$14 million over the last
> four years. In 1998, the International Telephone Traffic Revenue yielded
> US$42 million. The following year, it dropped by $8.14 million to $33.98
> million followed by a further drop in 2000 of $7.63 million to $26.4
> million in 2001. This further reduced by $7.06 million to $14.14 million
> last year.
>
> In a move that looked as if it had been planned with Ghana Telecom,
> Ghana's independent regulator, the National Communication Authority
> (NCA) announced that it was commissioning a technical team to among
> other things investigate how some ISPs caused the loss of more than
> US$30 million to Ghana Telecom. The acting Director General of the NCA,
> Major (rtd) J.R.K. Tandoh says there is evidence to show an increasing
> decline in revenue from international calls.
>
> The Chair of the Ghanaian ISP Association (GISPA), IDN's Francis Quartey
> (jailed previously for allegedly operating VOIP calls) issued a
> statement refuting the charge that GT's losses were the responsbility of
> GISPA's members.
>
> The statement opens by saying that since the operations of IDN and
> others were closed for 9 months and GT's revenues did not increase in
> the period, it can hardly be held responsible. It then makes the point
> that:"GT has not established clearly how this revenue is being lost. GT
> should establish the means by which it is losing (revenue)".
>
> It then goes on to list the reasons for the likely decline in its
> revenues:
>
> - consumers choosing e-mail over phone;
>
> - competition from Westel, the second national operator, whose
> international revenues have gone up.
>
> - the massive increase in non GT mobile subscribers whose operators have
> the capability to switch or terminate traffic directly into their own
> network.
>
> - The number of phone lines being used by ISP's cumulatively (IDN has
> 200) is not in excess of 2000 lines. At the same time active ISP
> subscribers number somewhere between 15,000-20,000. So even if the ISPs
> were using the lines to terminate traffic, the impact would not be as
> purported by Ghana Telecom. (Our guesstimate would be that the grey
> market locally accounts for between 10-15% of traffic.)
>
> - A number of foreign satellite providers such Thuraya and others are in
> operation. Their activities cannot be discounted as contributor to GT's
> revenue decline.
>
> - The overall drop in the cost of international traffic. GT's accounting
> rate at the beginning of the period cited was approximately US$1 and is
> now currently 9 cents; a 90% drop in the value of traffic to GT.
>
> - And finally, its most serious allegation:"Ghana telecom has provided
> huge number of phone lines to companies whose businesses are no way
> related to telecom or dependent on telecom services. Indeed, some of
> these company's posses more phone lines than the providers ( us ).
> Management of GT has conveniently turned blind eye to the activities of
> aforementioned businesses".
>
> Indeed when the issue of losses was covered in the local press a year
> ago there were allegations that GT staff members were colluding with
> outsiders to take revenues of this kind.
>
> In its recommendations to Government, GISPA makes the point that losses
> at GT mean lower contributions to the Universal Access Fund. However if
> Government were to legalise VOIP, the it could tax the operators and get
> back this revenue and provide an opportunity for Ghana to be the telecom
> gateway in the sub-region.
>
> On Wednesday last week GISPA met with the new ICT advisor to the
> Minister Adu Gyan in the absence of the Minister himself. Sources close
> to those who attended the meeting say that the adviser agreed with the
> GISPA representatives that GT should restore all lines to the ISPs. It
> was also clear that GT's move was a breach of Ghana's anti-competition
> laws. It was also agreed that GISPA would work with the regulator and
> government to facilitate the development of a framework for legalising
> VOIP operations. The Government agreed that it would shortly make a
> formal response to the situation.
>
> In Kenya the showdown over VOIP happened to coincide with a major change
> in the political administration. This opened the way for a consortium of
> ISPs to request a licence to handle their own international connectivity
> which is being sympathetically considered by the country's independent
> regulator.
>
> In Ghana, the situation is different. The Kufor Government was elected
> as a "reform" government but in the area of ICT has yet to make much of
> an impact. When we asked Francis Quartey about when VOIP would be
> legalised in an interview in the last issue he said:"The Director
> General of the NCA which is the regulating body of communications in the
> country as well as the Minister of Communication have both publicly
> stated their readiness to license VOIP operators. In any case, I do not
> believe VOIP is illegal in Ghana- at least not in the eyes of the rule
> of law of the land. When will VOIP be legalised in Ghana? I suppose when
> we gather the political will". Will Ghana's Minister demonstrate that he
> has the will to make this change?



Esther Dyson                    Always make new mistakes!
chairman, EDventure Holdings
writer, Release 3.0 (on Website below)
edyson () edventure com
1 (212) 924-8800    --   fax  1 (212) 924-0240
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