MONOPOLY HAS NEVER BEEN A BOON! [Archives:2000/19/Viewpoint]

I was quite delighted to hear the good news of the end of the monopoly exercised by Teleyemen in providing Internet services in Yemen. The main reason for my delight was not that we will soon have better Internet services at lower prices because of competition, but I was delighted most because our government was convinced after so many articles appeared in Yemen Times that Internet monopoly will not do good for the country. We at Yemen Times are satisfied that our mission to end this monopoly has eventually been fulfilled and our stand vindicated.
Monopoly as an issue in itself has never been in the side of the public. When monopolizing a service, we are limiting the choices of the people, we are giving an excuse to the provider not to upgrade the quality of his services, and most important of all, we are thwarting a healthy competition. This also applies for Yemen Times as a newspaper. Because of competition with other newspapers, we were able to excel and emerge stronger than ever before. Any time we feel that a competitor is in the market, that gives us the motivation and strength to do better and work harder. Otherwise, if we were to be the only service provider, even though we would have developed, but it would probably never have been the same level of excellence we as have achieved today. We thank our rivals, who are not our enemies, but our worthy friends who have given us the strength, courage, and most important of all, the will to become No 1. BY WALID A. AL-SAQQAF

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