Will unpaid debts silence us before Mugabe’s laws try to…..?
Everyone is concerned, and rightfully so, about the impact that Mugabe’s government’s desired communication laws will have on our human right to free expression and communication. But an article via the BBC points to another threat to communication: will Mugabe’s government’s economic mismanagement be more effective at silencing us than their oppressive laws?
In another sign of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, its main internet connection has been shut because of unpaid debts.
One internet provider said the closure was “catastrophic.”
[...]
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Internet Service Providers Association (Zispa) said that e-mail traffic and web use was down by 90% after the main satellite internet connection run by the state-owned TelOne was closed over a debt of $700,000.
TelOne says it is waiting for the foreign currency to pay the bill from Zimbabwe’s central bank.
“This is catastrophic as all legal Internet Service Providers utilize TelOne for their outgoing bandwidth to the World Wide Web as well as for e-mail traffic. In short, this… is causing an almost collapse of the Internet in Zimbabwe,” said Mweb, the country’s biggest provider.
September 21st, 2006 16:52
Simbabwe ohne Internet?
Anscheinend gibt es in Simbabwe fast kein Internet Zugang mehr, und wenn dann sehr langsam. Denn die TelOne, die in Regierungsbesitz ist, hat anscheinend noch nicht die notwendige $700,000 Gebühr bezahlt. Also hat der Satellitenbetreib…