The Ongoing XNet and Telecom saga

The following table summarises the saga from the Director's perspective some time after SchoolNet Namibia's closure. It is illustrative of how public/private/NGO partnerships can go wrong. In general, partners may have varying levels of understanding and commitment; some of their own separate objectives may even conflict with those of the partnership itself. The table also clarifies how the internet billing system of Telecom/XNet for schools was NOT realistic without a subsidy solution being offered by government.

December 2006:	Request to XNet for direct or centralised payment by Ministry of Education for SchoolNet's technical and internet support services to government schools was ignored.
2006/2007:	SchoolNet entered a dispute with Telecom concerning upstream service issues and the sequestration of SchoolNet WIFI equipment, including Telecom's commercial use (Switch) of two 51 meter stayed masts belonging to SchoolNet. At that stage, the equipment had a depreciated value of ±N$ 1,833,570. SchoolNet entered the XNet agreement in 2007 with the Telecom dispute unresolved. XNet acquires key higher education clients from SchoolNet (e.g. Colleges of Education and Teacher Resource Centres), representing a loss of income for SchoolNet. SchoolNet school debtors' list opening balance in 2007 was N$ 413,820. SchoolNet initially gave credit notes of N$ 213,040 to schools for all claims of poor or non-existent upstream internet service. SchoolNet subsequently gave credit notes to any school which reported upstream Telecom or internet service difficulties. SchoolNet was billed ± N$ 17,000/month by Xnet for upstream bandwidth from Telecom! SchoolNet was billed @ N$ 50/month per contract school by XNet - the status of school connectivity was disputed for a large proportion of these schools. SchoolNet was billed ± N$ 20,000/month by Sysex for network admin fees SchoolNet payed ± N$ 16,000/month for financial administration of school technical + internet service payments to a contracted accountant and helpdesk staff.
January 2008:	From this date onwards, SchoolNet did not obtain any direct funding to subsidise internet support services to government schools, following the closure of Sida funding in December 2007.
2008	SchoolNet school debtors' list opening balance in 2008 was N$ 321,299 SchoolNet wrote off N$ 279,349 in bad school debts. SchoolNet gave further credit notes of N$ 229,486 to schools for claims of poor or non-existent upstream internet service. Over and beyond unresolved technical problems carried over from 2006/2007, several serious upstream internet service outages occurred nation-wide as reported to Kuria (executive of XNet) and Telecom directly on several occasions prior to the last meeting with Xnet on 28 May 2008. ±15 new school applications with Xnet remained disconnected.
March 2008:	No XNet invoices were received from Xnet after March 2008.
April 2008:	Sysex network admin services were discontinued.
July 2008:	SchoolNet internet domain admin was taken over by Pyxis The dispute with Telecom concerning upstream service issues and the sequestration of SchoolNet WIFI equipment, including Telecom's commercial use (Switch) of two 51 meter stayed masts belonging to SchoolNet, remained unresolved.
End of 2008	SchoolNet asset register shows plant and machinery to be valued at N$ 583,170 depreciation value.
2009 (to end of 1st quarter)	SchoolNet school debtors' list opening balance in 2009 was N$ 11,767 SchoolNet wrote off N$ 47,682 in bad school debts. SchoolNet gave credit notes of N$ 17,500 to schools for claims of poor or non-existent upstream internet service.
27 March 2009:	The Ministry of Education unilaterally chose to terminate SchoolNet's technical and internet service support to government schools, citing several unsubstantiated and undeserving claims of dissatisfaction with "SchoolNet's internet" and support services.
October 2009:	It appeared the masts in question were no longer in use by Telecom, and they wished to dispose of them at that stage.

Over the period of dispute (end 2006 - 27th March 2009), for which XNet/Telecom laid claim against SchoolNet, SchoolNet provided credit notes of N$ 460,026 to schools for claims of poor or non-existent upstream internet service. SchoolNet also wrote off N$ 327,031 in bad school debts, all related to claims of poor or non-existent upstream internet service.

The dispute with Telecom concerning poor or non-existent upstream service issues and the sequestration of SchoolNet WIFI equipment purchased with Sida funds (provided to SchoolNet, not Telecom or MoE!), as well as Telecom's commercial use of two 51 meter stayed masts belonging to SchoolNet over several years without discussion, consent or fair trade, remains at the core of this unresolved dispute.

At the time of writing (September 2010), the whereabouts of all the other original (Alvarion) wireless equipment which was removed from these and other masts in Ovamboland is unknown.

---