Altech remains our hero

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 11 January 2009

Altech, who went to Court last year to force the review of ICASA’s licensing process and won, has pulled out of the MTN Verizon hearings but remains a hero in the eyes of the Average Joes and ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa).

Altech’s heroism will be cemented in the telecoms history of SA for many years to come...

ADSL Broadband and other broadband users will remember Altech’s unwavering stance last year, when it went to Court to force the review of ICASA’s licensing process, and blown the door wide open to increased competition in the telecoms sector.

This time around, Altech’s stance against the R1.4bn takeover of Verizon SA by MTN, can mistakenly be described as wavering, but only if one listens to its critics and believes that antimerger tactics are bad for telecoms in SA. Altech’s critics have accused and vilified it for using disruptive antimerger tactics, such as placing flimsy arguments on the table against the Verizon SA MTN merger, and frequently changing those arguments. What they forget to tell us, is that Altech only pulled out after ‘….MTN promised to treat Verizon and its own Network Services division in the same way it treated other independent industry players, and not to offer them any preferential prices for its services’ (Altech reviled for antimerger tactics, Business Day, Lesley Stones, 9 January 2009).

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