Boardroom Talk: What happened after Telkom’s monopoly ended shows what SA can expect on electricity

By Alec Hogg.You may think I'm clutching at straws, but personal experience tells me our Eskom turbulence will have a happy ending. Before you stop reading, as the Surrey ladies say, "bear with…..".At the dawning of the internet age here in South Africa, I threw everything into my online publishing startup, confident the global boom would be replicated in SA. The two-year-old startup was listed on the JSE in 1999. Allan Gray, Investec, Old Mutual, Coronation and others bought shares, agreeing the world was our oyster..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Except that none of us factored in the destructive role of Telkom, the government's then fixed line (and thus internet access) monopoly. Until Seacom's broadband cable landed in 2009, Telkom was effectively the sole broadband supplier. It profit-gouged by restricting supply, taking SA's internet sector from leader to continental laggard. .Seacom's undersea cable was soon followed by others, and with technological advances in mobile, Telkom's artificial dominance ended. The result: prices fell, demand surged – and with the dead hand of an inefficient State monopoly removed, the internet sector mushroomed, never looking back. .SA's electricity story is on a similar path. Power blackouts and excessive prices will soon enough be thrown into the dumpster of history together with Eskom's ruinous monopoly. Today's chaos will end sooner than anyone rational may imagine right now. Never bet against human ingenuity. Especially on the southern tip of Africa..The BizNews tagline of "Get context. Know more" is appropriate in this brilliant summation by SA's premier political analyst, RW Johnson. He expands on a column he wrote for BN Premium members, where the former Oxford Don admits being baffled by the DA's flip-flop on the State of Disaster over Eskom. Johnson also applies Level Two thinking on SA's watershed 2024 Election, warning how Russian president Vladimir Putin will have a massive influence on both the result and post-poll coalitions..More for you to read today:.The Climate Crusaders Are Coming for Electric Cars Too. A new report makes clear the ultimate goal: tiny, uncomfortable apartments and bicycles for all. Click here.How Spotify's podcast bet went wrong – the Pro Rogan experience didn't work out. Click here. Stocks could have a surprisingly strong first half of the year, though the risk of a recession may loom in the second half. Watch for opportunities in value stocks and Asia ex-Japan. Click here

Boardroom Talk: What happened after Telkom’s monopoly ended shows what SA can expect on electricity

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