[Image: Flickr]
Back in the mid-90s, Telkom tried to lock the entire Internet behind its monopoly gates and throw away the key.
They figured, “Hey, we’ve got a state-backed monopoly on voice calls — why not just slap that control onto the whole Internet too?” A bold move that backfired.
In June 1996, a scrappy alliance of independent Internet providers formed ISPA (Internet Service Providers’ Association) to push back hard. Telkom’s tactics were classic big-kid-on-the-playground: “It’s not anti-competitive if we say it isn’t!” Then, when called out, they shifted gears to: “Even if it is anti-competitive, we’re allowed to do it. Monopoly rights, baby.”
Cue massive eye-roll from literally everyone else.
These independent ISPs – the real MVPs – were being squeezed. While they had to rent Telkom’s infrastructure at a cost, Telkom got to use its own lines for free, then undercut the competition. That’s not a playing field; that’s a cliff.
Satra (the pre-ICASA telecoms regulator) didn’t buy Telkom’s excuse that a monopoly was somehow good for underserved areas. ISPA made the point that small players were far more agile and capable of reaching the places Telkom conveniently forgot about. Eventually, in 1997, Satra ruled in ISPA’s favour: Telkom’s monopoly did not extend to the Internet. Cue celebration emojis.
Telkom, not loving the outcome, lawyered up. But time (and market pressure) weren’t on their side. By 2002, their monopoly expired. Predictably, the government fumbled the liberalisation process. No serious competitor launched that year, because, of course, but new legislation in 2005 finally cracked open the door.
By 2007, smaller players won the right to build their own networks. Seven years later, Vumatel rolled into Parkhurst, kicked off the fibre revolution, and by 2019, they’d zoomed past Telkom as SA’s biggest fibre-to-the-home provider.
As for Telkom? They were eventually forced to cough up R449 million in 2013 for abusing their dominance. Ouch. Today, they operate Openserve — a wholesale arm that plays (mostly) nicer with others.
Which brings us to RSAWEB.
Born in 2001, RSAWEB didn’t just ride the wave; they helped build it. While the old guard was busy hoarding copper wires, RSAWEB was investing in future-proof infrastructure. Think Cloud, Enterprise Connectivity, Fibre To The Home, and Mobile Data Management — with top-tier data centres in Joburg and Cape Town, and POPs all over the map from London to the USA.
RSAWEB exists to do what Telkom didn’t: help people and businesses actually succeed online. Whether it’s boosting revenue, managing risk, or cutting costs with tech that works (and support that doesn’t ghost you), RSAWEB is proof that innovation thrives when monopolies die.
So cheers to the rebels, the risk-takers, and the fibre-layers. Especially RSAWEB — for keeping the Internet open, fast, and actually working.
[Source: MyBroadband]
