695: Durban suggestions re. email communications: KOzyn replies

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: John C. Kozyn <jckozyn@mnsinc.com>

> Problem apparently stems from a new
> (politically-appointed) Teleco Director claiming that
> ACN is stealing customers from the Haitian State phone
> monopoly (Teleco), and getting someone in the Haitian
> legal establishment shut ACN down.  To this observer
> on the ground, it seems a case of "if I can't provide
> the service I don't want anyone else to provide it
> either".

Of course the DG (Directeur Général) is appointed! You think state
agencies here in the US don't have political appointees? C'mon, let's
try to be a bit more fair...

I read today in AHP that the number of minutes in long-distance calls in
Haiti jumped from around 200,000 to 450,000 the _very same_ day that
ACN's operation was shut down. That translates into revenue for the
Haitian state and that loss of legitimate revenue prompted Mr. Céant of
CONATEL to do what he did.
 
> What is truly astonishing is that the Government of
> Haiti cannot see the long-term harm done by willingly
> cutting the country off from the rest of the world.
> There is no question that we have lost some business
> just in the last week as customers have been unable to
> contact us for quotations.  Regrettably (from our
> point of view) most of our customers have other
> sources able to provide the same kinds of electronic
> components we do.

Well, following the law is a bitch sometimes isn't it? Here in the US I
dislike some of the laws, yet I follow them or I pay the consequences.
Why do you think that Haiti should be different somehow? Because you
and/or some Haitian nationals think "nou merite sa?" I hope not.

Moreover, the country was not cut off from the rest of the world. One
ISP was closed down. You think the Government wasn't aware of what it
was doing? Many people in the Government have their Net and e-mail
access with ACN (!) so it must have been pretty serious to have taken
the action that CONATEL did. (As a result they lost their e-mail and
Internet access too.)

Hope this helps,

John Kozyn

N.B. Sonje byen: My opinions, despite my employment by the Government of
Haiti, are mine alone :)