Wars

Working for a company that is seemingly constantly at war with the local national government, even though the war has lulled to a stage of infrequent skirmishes and faraway rumblings in the middle of the night, is an interesting experience. At the same time, the government has chosen to wage a separate and much more present war with a local media conglomerate. This war is a nasty and aggressive scrap, seeing the government wield weapons of conscience and reason, although sometimes these weapons can have contradictory results. This week’s surprise assault was no exception: the government yesterday informed one of the (if not the biggest) internet service provider, part of this media empire, that in 90 days it would cease to exist. The reason? It constitutes a monopoly. The impact of this monopoly-busting action, however, is likely to play into the hands of other monopolies, some local, others very foreign. Fibertel, it must be admitted, provide a lousy internet service, but as a result of this latest action, huge swathes of people, myself included, will have to find new internet providers, overloading the competition to the point where they may not be able to cope. But points have been scored, blood has been shed, the company promised legal action and the war rumbles on.