Well ….. If you did not get my argument I will tell you in
other words.

First, I never said Econet manufacture the equipment, all I said
and explained if you read my post again was that they (Econet) just – in my words
– “copy and paste” solutions. Econet need not have manufactured base stations
etc, but my expectation of them is that at least they should have their own
engineers do the set-up and even build the VOIP platforms. Econet should have
in-house competencies for the services they offer rather than just borrow these
competencies practically all the time, save for collecting money. With their
kind of profits, surely they must invest in improving the competencies of their
staff as well as developing and acquiring new competencies.

PLUS -THE ARTICLE CLEARLY EXPOSED HOW ECONET IS PROVIDING / ROLLING
OUT ITS VOIP SERVICE

NOW, MY ARGUMENT IS THAT WHAT HAS BEEN EXPOSED ABOVE
(SYSMASTER) CLEARLY SHOWS THAT ECONET ITSELF IS NOT INVESTING IN, OR CREATING
ITS OWN TECHNOLOGIES BUT RATHER, IS BORROWING THEM ALL THE TIME, WITH THE MILLIONS
IT MAKES EVERY YEAR. ECOLIFE IS BORROWED. VOIP IS ALSO BORROWED. THERE IS NOT
EVEN ONE THING ECONET HAS CREATED OF ITS OWN AND WHICH IT CAN EVEN RESPOND
BELOW TO SAY IT HAS A PATENT FOR.

I know for a fact, for example, that Bharti-Airtel has
patents for products it developed in-house. Skype I talk about also has patents.
Surely, a company with enough money to start Skype ought to start its own VOIP
product rather than just borrow technologies all the time.

To recap:

The article title is:

-         
-> A “How not to launch an internet based
product” lesson from Econet <-

And you said

“ i dont get your argument. this article is not about using
a white label solution or even saying that Econet should manufacture network
equipment for their own use etc.. read the headline … it says "how not
to Launch an internet based product" and the focus of he article and
people's arguments are along those lines..”

-

The article, yes, shows us how not to launch an internet
based product, showing how Econet made mistakes in the launch …

But then again, in that article, it is revealed that Econet
borrowed technologies from Sysmaster Corporation. It is that borrowing of
technologies I have talked about/argued against. The article reveals this even
with screen grabs!

Unless of course it is wrong for me to talk about a content
in the article that is not highlighted and somebody would rather have me just
think and discuss issues along the lines of just what he himself thinks, has
understood, or wants me to say, or what everybody else is focused on ; perhaps
in the interest of wanting the discussion to be just about the Econet mistake
only, and not anything else the article highlights.

While Econet bungled up the launch, certainly they got
exposed for using Sysmaster, information which even ill-intentioned people can
use for malicious purposes if they know the vulnerabilities of SysMaster’s VOIP
solution. But then again, I suppose it would be wrong to bring that argument up
(the exposure of the solution provided) because people are supposed to discuss
in one line of thought only, despite that being something the article can
reveal.

Opinions and analyses are diverse. Two people can read the
same content and come to different conclusions and even catch the attention of
different aspects of the same piece.

I therefore do not need to go with the arguments of some
people here as I comment from my own brain.

You cannot control what people think, or what interests them
in the article, or even how they feel about it.

Sadly I find, for example, many blog owners everywhere, even deleting comments of anyone who dares think differently as if to imply to commenters what to think. Wasn’t it Apple which said – “Think Different”

–

Hope it now makes sense.

you do not launch a service and the primary interface to the system is down or has dead links thats a No No.. even someone who is just out of high school can tell you that.

this shows you there is someone sleeping on the job. 

i for one am not tickled by these services.. EcoCash and even this Voip service so i leave it to those that want to consume the service but … ya Econet has to up their game.. the level of complacency shows you how one has the mentality, “If i am the leader, why should i worry”. they should go and ask Standard Chartered Bank what not to do when you are a market leader. They never, 10 years ago thought that a local bank, CBZ would be the leading bank by deposits.

i rest my case

I also dont really see those that have been using Africom crossing floors for the simple reason that one has to purchase a new access device. you are better off sticking to your current provider. (not advertising for africom here)

What the network needs to do is to get a really strong investor and spread their coverage. crappy service in Bulawayo where they say they have coverage. was there last week.. and your guess is right i could not get a connection even in the CBD.

in teh meantime, viva Africom unless some player come along with some “revolutionary” offering like free Modem and first month free or something like that…

Do you honestly, in all honesty, think that Strive Masiyiwa
who worked for PTC and had experience with ancient fixed line telecoms at
stat-owned PTC already had all the know-how and experience of setting up a
mobile network and how to operate it?

Heck, I say no. A big fat NO.

If you really get into the
details you will find that Ericsson (now SonyEriccson) engineers came and set the network up and then
there was knowledge transfer to local engineers of running and maintaining the
system.

And still to this day, don’t for once even think Zimbabwean engineers
can construct advanced networks and build advanced technologies like mobile
network equipment. I have come to appreciate the bragging prowess of the
Zimbabwean just because he is the “most literate” in Africa.

When GPRS and 3G
were implemented by Econet, it was not Strive Masiyiwa or Zimbabweans connecting the networks
etc., NO.

Engineers from ZTE and Huawei , and who make the equipment, came into the
country and set up the things. All that Econet then does is maintain the system
and collect money.

Tabva ipapo, if you read the stories about the arrest of
Africom executives on trumped up charges, you will notice that there were
revelations of a Canadian company, Juch Tech, being involved in the set-up of
the entire system.

You can read about it here: . http://www.intozimbabwe.com/top-news/zimbabwe/3805-africom-espionage-case-collapses.html

Somebody above also mentioned the well-know EcoLife case
which involved a Namibian company lending its technological resources to
Zimbabwean company, Econet.

In conclusion, Zimbabweans, as far as I have seen and
experienced, love to boast of being the smartest in Africa yet apart from the
Gwatamatic, there is no advanced technological products you can point to and
say was made by a Zimbabwean.

I have even said it many times before on TechZim (to much
spirited opposition lol) that we need people who can actually build the
technologies rather than just brag about being developers and programmers when
they just building joomla sites which even a O’Level can do intuitively.

(I am no tech guru myself but if I find I can do something
that someone with a masters degree in computer science spends his whole day and
life doing…when I don’t have any training in computer science myself but I am
just self-taught …. man …. i mean … I am not trying to be funny but it just tells me
that either there is something wrong with him or his sense of imagination and
creativity, or the education he got was not up to scratch.)

South Africa which many Zimbabweans say is not as smart as Zimbabwe
has built world class and world-leading technologies and yet Zimbabwe continues
to brag on and on and on about how smart and literate it is and how it has the
so-called “best education system” in Africa.

Take South Africa’s Clickatell for example. It is worldwide with
a SMS technology it built itself, rather than borrowed from some company
outside South Africa. it does not even use a white-label solution.

Econet reported US$140 million in profits after tax last year for the 2010 financial year, yet I can point you to many start-ups in the VOIP sector worldwide that were
started from scratch with far less money.

Even Skype was started with far much
less money!

If you really look at it, Econet is practically a airtime selling
organization, the biggest juice card vendor in Zimbabwe, a seller just like OK Zimbabwe, and no technology developer like Apple

Econet Wireless does not even have one single patent to its
name unlike Telkom and SASOL.

Even I myself can open an VOIP account with Norfa.com under
its FAMILY PLANS- PERSONAL SAVER PACKAGE 1 and operate a VOIP business. Only
thing that stops me is that I do not have a telecoms license issued by Protraz.

If you hear Econet saying it is investing in R&D and it
does not specify what the R&D is, you bet that the research being talked
about is creating a package like Buddie, Libertie, and branding the juice cards,
and surveying for optimum base station locations. It’s R&D will not be technology
for which it can get patents that it can rent to MTN or Vodacom, or other telecoms
companies worldwide.

Anyway, Econet’s business model works for it.

Only time will
tell if Econet will really contribute anything technologically significant like
Sony which was started amidst war time destruction with less than US$5000 but
went on to develop its own technologies, get patents, and even have its employees
win Nobel prizes and awards for contributions to science, and be one of the biggest
100 companies in the world.

Next time you hear Econet say this about its VOIP offering; “Our
engineers are working flat out to resolve the problem. Any inconvenience caused
is sincerely regretted.”

You bet its “engineers” it will be some Norfa.com
(Sysmaster corporation) employee abroad they will be talking about. (HA! HA!)

And if Econet takes too long to resolve the problem, now
that you know, you might
just as well submit a support ticket directly to
Norfa.com. HA! HA! HA!

Also whenever one accesses their website http://www.afri-com.com you realise there is very old content especially on news and events and some links especially under contact us have nothing

they could have even done a one pager website…tht won’t even take a whole day! One wee???Come ooo-ooooonnnn!!!!

This new corporate logo has law-suit written all over it ‘cos all i see here is a cheap Vodafone rip off.

Could Vimpelcom not think of anything original for Pete’s sakes?

You say – “You seem to think that knocking nigeria is ok but
touching arabs is xenophobic! I object to that.

There you show selective interpretation of what I said.

If any country has the military, diplomatic, U.N., or even
economic muscle to defend its strategic economic interests abroad or in any
country, I believe it should use it. It does not matter whether that country is
the U.K., United States, China, Iran, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa or even
Togo. There is nothing xenophobic about that.

Recently the US passed laws that prohibit and make some
Chinese imports expensive. This makes U.S. products more competitive and
certainly the law favours US businesses. There is nothing wrong with that. The
US complains that the Chinese currency is undervalued. But China is exercising
its own powers over its own currency and also power over US debt to keep its
currency where it is. There is nothing wrong with using your power to maximum
effect.

If the Gulf Oil spill had been caused by a Iranian company
and not BP, you can expect that Iranian company would have been put under US
administration – NATIONALISED. In BP’s case, the UK used its powers (and
relationship power) to force to US to be more lenient towards BP.

You talk about the “Sudanese” and a Arabic conspiracy, which
I strongly feel is a “anti-Arab” xenophobic sentiment. If you had just said Mo
Ibrahim it would have been better.

Anyway, I will take it that I misunderstood your comment and
so I will not go any further with this.

- Chanyani, you  are right with your first 10 words. As for “Arabic
tribalism”/xenophobia I do not think there is any Arabic conspiracy
because Vodacom from South Africa which is the one that started the whole
mess is not Arabic.

- Nigeria is world famous for corruption and scams and you can only cross
your fingers that Econet will win. You cannot appeal a supreme court
decision. Unfortunately Econet Wireless Ltd (UK) is so small and
irrelevant that the British would never use their armed forces to defend it or
to effect a regime change to protect British corporate interests, unlike if it was BP.

However, it clearly illustrates the point i always make on Techzim which has got me one deletion so far (in the FB comment days) and some angry comments.

I understand business more than tech. and when i tell folks to weave multinationals that protect their business interests, here i get criticism, especially when i say start a company in the US and use it for investments anywhere. Some ‘intelligent” people, when i mention the U.S., even go to the extent of telling me of the “plight” of the Red Indian.

Vodaphone UK left because it knew what it was doing was unethical and shareholders were not pleased.

Celtel, because it cared nothing about the ethical grounds and property rights issues, and we are talking of a Sudanese company here, went on to grab what Vodaphone had left.

Bharti, in a bid to get big just grabbed the loot. remember, at one time Bharti wanted to buy MTN, but the SA government refused stating that MTN is the pride of Africans – if MTN goes to India, then what will Africa have to be proud of?

Bharti has now filed an appeal to the ruling and since the Econet decision was not at Supreme court level.

Nigeria is world famous for corruption and scams and you can only cross your fingers that Econet will will. you cannot appeal a supreme court decision. Unfortunately Econet Wireless Ltd (UK) is so small and irrelevant that the British would use their armed forces to defend it or to effect a regime change, unlike if it was BP.

Remember, it haz taken Econet 9 years to get this judgemento!

Anonymity is good I don’t doubt that, I guess disqus has provision of using your Facebook identity I just hope that the switch will help drive traffic to techzim with increased pageviews, it’s a reliable blog I think that deserves attention and meaningful comments, so whether disqus or Facebook comments does the job why not! I know for sure that if something catches my eye I wont fail to comment regardless of what option to comment is presented.

And then when I say folks must invest cleverly and
through, and in countries that will protect their investments etc., some folks here claim I
speak fairy tales.

If you have nothing to protect and a tiny business you have
no hope of ever growing into a monster, it is OK and I understand where you
will be coming from.

There is nothing to
stop you from using your foreign company to invest in Zimbabwe or any country.
Because the Econet in question is based in the U.K., Econet was able to put
pressure and even approach the U.K. legal system to put pressure on Vodacom
(then part owned by Vodaphone U.K.) to pull out. I look forward to a day when
savvy Zimbabwean techpreneurs will just be as savvy with doing business
worldwide.

If Facebook commenting had been removed say after a year, all the comments resources (very valuable user generated input) would have vanished and visitors would have no archived resources to refer to + it would mean less stuff for SEO. With Disqus old comments are still there.

In my view only obscene words need to be deleted rather than whole comments etc.

I read Forbes.com a lot (and i love it very much because people there engage in really deep, constructive, and well thought-out comments with some comments very detailed rather than just two word sentences.), and on Forbes.com they have a system where people can report a comment for example. This means action will be taken only when a post has been flagged.

Some comments may seem uninteresting or irrelevant or out of line etc. etc. and therefore get deleted when maybe everyone who uses this blog would not mind reading them. Kinda like “One man’s jack ass is another man’s best.” – so long as the comment does not have obscene words, defamatory content, etc – or violate the terms of use. People also need to know what options they have to lodge a complaint about a comment for example.

Too much censorship can discourage people who really want to participate with constructive intent; and by “constructive intent”, i do not mean being always agreeable or yes-readers.

As this site grows, I can imagine the resources needed to delete comments one by one when it now has, say 20 000 visitors a day. I am happy there is not even 1 Facebook comment of mine remaining! I don’t want some people having my personal details out of a simple FB comment.

Lastly, in a similar post to this one i mentioned how some venture capitalist said “all pageviews are not equal” indeed they went up you say, thanks perhaps to FB notifications, but the cost/price to content and SEO looks huge. I actually discovered i could find a Techzim Disqus comment via Google, unlike with FB comments.

I think this post is a good one in highlighting how far internet access has come and where it’s likely to be heading, what I’ve enjoyed reading is the unbiased view of how things stand right now as well as how comments have been expressed of the topic. Thank you techzim and L.S.M. Kabweza I hope 2012 brings more popularity to your site.

If I may ask, does your analytics show if these new pageviews engaged any more with the website passed the linked article?

3 things to look when VoIP latency , jitter and packet loss.
Latency – time it takes for packets to reach their destination.
Jitter – they way packets vary in their arrive.Packet loss
Packets lost in transit and this is a pain if unchecked.But with time the service will mature just like in developed countries