Fifa decommissions facsimile

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
WORLD football governing body Fifa has decommissioned the use of facsimile as one of its communication mediums and assured member associations that this would not impact negatively in the transmission of information.

The decision to decommission fax communication was announced by Fifa deputy secretary-general (football) Zvonimir Boban in a communiqué to national associations following an end to analogue transmission by the Swiss Federal Office of Communications (BAKOM). Fifa is headquartered in Zurich, Swizterland.

A fax is the telephonic transmission of scanned-in printed material (text or images), usually to a telephone number associated with a printer or other output device.

“The Swiss Federal Office of Communications (BAKOM) will be ending support for analogue transmissions from January 2018 onwards. Consequently, Fifa will no longer be able to support communications via fax. In this context, Fifa has developed a communication system via email, which will facilitate and expedite exchanges with its member associations. Indeed, we would like to ask you, whenever you have a query or a communication to be sent to Fifa, to email your usual contact person,” Boban wrote to Fifa’s 211 member asociations.

“The process of decommissioning the fax system will start on 1 January 2018, with the official shutdown taking place on 15 July 2018. From this date onwards, Fifa will no longer be able to send or receive faxes. You may be rest assured that this change will not negatively impact the efficient handling of correspondence by Fifa. On the contrary, we are confident that it will improve response times and contribute to faster and more efficient communication.” — @skhumoyo2000