A Zairean businessman has caused a storm=20 with his Berea-based communication network, reports=20 Annie Mapoma
AN enterprising Zairean businessman has set up a=20 communication network in a Berea house to connect=20 expatriates to friends, family and businesses back=20
Zaireans are flocking to the offices of Full Business=20 Services, at 87 Honey Street, for fast, cheap=20 international calls, a courier postal service and=20 direct radio transmissions to Kinshasa.
The radio transmitter caused a storm when local=20 newspapers reported allegations that it was sending=20 political messages into Zaire. Neighbours also=20 complained that its antenna was interfering with their=20 TV reception. As a result the Independent Broacasting=20 Authority started investigating a possible breach of=20 its regulations.
But this week FBS managing director Pascal Npia said=20 his company, which offered international communication,=20 freight and travel services, decided to install a radio=20 transmitter last year because of Zaire’s strangled=20 communication systems.
“It’s a Phonie, a two-way radio system which functions=20 in the same way as that used in metred taxis to=20 communicate with their base,” he said. “We use the=20 transmitter to communicate with our office in Zaire. We=20 have to inform them about the arrival time of freight=20 so that they are ready to receive the goods at the=20 airport in Kinshasa. If we don’t notify the people that=20 we have sent their goods, things would be stolen right=20 there at the airport.”
He said the company was set up to provide a service to=20 Zaireans and also to make ends meet. “We had no=20 complaints about TV reception, only one from a next- door neighbour whose telephone was not working properly=20 and had put the blame on the transmitter.” Telkom=20 corrected the problem.
Gert Visser from Telkom’s radio section confirmed that=20 Full Business Radio was fully licensed. According to=20 IBA legal advisor Glen Marques, the IBA ended its=20 enquiries when it was unable to pick up the frequency=20 used and discovered that Full Business was licensed by=20 the post office.
Full Business Services’ international line is connected=20 to an international long distance service which, Npia=20 says, is cheaper than Telkom and quicker.=20
They also offer a courier service for the Zairean=20 community. Npia said ordinary mail from South Africa to=20 Zaire can take six months to a year to arrive. “We=20 decided to set up a system where people wishing to send=20 mail to Zaire could register it at our Johannesburg=20 office and then we fly it to our Kinshasa office and=20 have messengers who deliver it to the owners.”
Npia puts the newspaper reports down to jealousy.=20 “People are jealous because our business is doing so=20 well, they will try every possible way to discourage=20 us,” he laughs.