AJIC Issue 11, 2010/2011

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https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/19262

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    Editors' Comment
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2011-02-15) Kupe, Tawana; Abrahams, Lucienne
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    State of Competition in Zambia’s Telecommunications Sector
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2011-02-15) Kaira, Thulasoni
    Zambia, situated in the Southern African region, has a population of 13 million and GDP in 2009 was estimated at ZMK61.1 trillion or approximately USD12.8 billion. Economic composition of GDP by sector is 40.2% services, 38.2% industry and 21.6% agriculture. GDP growth averaged 4.8% in the decade between 1999 and 2009, with strong performance in the construction, mining and agricultural sectors. However, as a services-based economy, growth is constrained by, inter alia, slow emergence of a competitive telecommunications sector that can provide the platform for the national and international flow of information and communication required for further rapid advances in economic development. This article reviews the state of competition in Zambia’s telecommunications sector, with due attention to the fixed line and international gateway, the mobile telephony and Internet markets.
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    Context-Aware VoIP Congestion Control Service
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2011-02-15) Agutu, Gordon; Djouani, Karim; Biermann, Elmarie; Noel, Guillaume
    IP networks can have difficulty coping with delay-sensitive VoIP traffics during emergency situations caused by fires and related disasters. During emergencies there is a huge increase in voice and video traffic, causing a huge strain on the network. The strain on the network is as a result of both essential and non-essential traffic. In such crisis situations, calls originating from or destined for rescue personnel, such as doctors and police, are considered essential. Any other calls from eyewitnesses and the public are considered non-essential, since they degrade the quality of service for the emergency response teams by consuming the scarce network resources. Providing the rescue team with the quality of service that they require necessitates network access restriction for non-essential traffic. In this paper, the authors present a voice and video service that uses Context-Awareness and Semantic Web technologies to restrict network access to privileged users during crisis situations. The service monitors the network for crisis conditions, enables the network to respond appropriately when a crisis occurs, detects the end of the crisis and reverts to its default state.
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    Book Review: Fransman, M. (2010). The New ICT Ecosystem: Implications for Policy and Regulation
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2011-02-15) Madizika, Lucky
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    Book Review: Tapscott, D., and Williams, A.D. (2010). Macro Wikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2011-02-15) Hanna, Nagy
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    Servicing Advocacy in E-Government: Small Business Development Services in Cape Town
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2011-02-15) Mitrovic, Zoran; Bytheway, Andy
    Small businesses are widely regarded by national and international bodies, including the South African government, as an “engine of economic growth”. However, much available evidence suggests that establishing a new small business in South Africa is difficult because of a lack of appropriate support. The research reported here sets out to examine the actual support that has been available, and the viewpoints of both the support service providers and the intended beneficiaries – small business owners and managers. It was found that government-based support services were predominant in the minds of small businesses and other involved parties, and that much of the interest in these services was based on accessibility via the Internet, a form of electronic government service. However, despite claims of success by e-government service providers, it is found that many small businesses are not aware of available support services, and that, where they are known, there is scepticism about the benefits of engaging with them. As the problems have been found to be centred around a lack of awareness of available services, this article reports on a possible solution, based on a concept referred to here as Servicing Advocacy.
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    International Mobile Roaming: Progress and Challenges in African Markets
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2011-02-15) Sutherland, Ewan
    The persistence of high prices for international mobile roaming services, in contrast to falling national mobile prices, has been a recognised item on the global regulatory agenda for half a decade. In Africa, there have been studies and discussions about regulatory options in regional economic groups and in the various networks of national regulators. As yet, there has been no transnational regulatory action. Yet the initiative of one large operator saw the introduction of transnational tariff schemes (ie without a surcharge for roaming), forcing competitors to collaborate in order to respond, if they wished to attract and to retain customers. This has both saved money for consumers and greatly reduced the need for regulatory interventions that might have proved counterproductive. In some countries this type of offer remains impossible, because international gateways are a monopoly, having yet to be opened to competition.
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    Book Review: Hanna, N. (2010). E-Transformation: Enabling New Development Strategies – Innovation, Technology and Knowledge Management
    (LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, 2011-02-15) Moyo, Last