EC Act creates opportunity

Both opportunities and threats will come about with the convergence resulting from the promulgation of the Electronic Communications (EC) Act, says Dominic Cull, attorney advocate at Nicci Ferguson, a law firm specialising in e-law, business development and intellectual property.

Cull was speaking at the ICT Law Empowerment Sessions hosted by ICT law group Buys, in Johannesburg yesterday.

"Convergence is a buzzword with many layers of meaning," he said. "It refers to convergence over delivery channels, convergence of devices, and even the convergence of regulation."

There is a general agreement that the cost to business of electronic communication is too high - both direct costs and indirect costs, Cull explained.

"This can provide great opportunity to private telecommunication networks (PTNs)."

There is a global trend towards telecommunications as a service provided by municipalities, forming what is called a unicity, explained Cull. Knysna was the first to set up a PTN on 1 February 2006, aimed at reducing telecommunication costs.

"Many other municipalities, such as Cape Town and Durban, are rapidly following suit," said Cull, adding: "This trend will definitely snowball."

There is much convergence opportunity for the second national operator (SNO), he explained. In the second quarter of this year, the SNO will be working on wholesale services to mobile network operators, value-added network services and Internet service providers, he said.

"In the third quarter it will work on business services, such as private leased circuits and IP-virtual private network. It will also focus on Ethernet services, new developments in managed services and applications and data centre services. Finally, traditional voice services and bundled VOIP solutions will be explored," he said.

The fourth quarter of 2006 will see the SNO focusing on consumer services, such as basic voice telephony and Internet access in urban areas, as well as "true" broadband, added Cull.

"Number portability, also a form of convergence, should be rolled out by September this year," Cull explained. "This will mean great opportunities for both prepaid and postpaid mobile clients."

This service, however, must be inexpensive and convenient if it is to make any difference, he said.

"This service will be very empowering for consumers and is also likely to favour late-entrants, like Cell C."

"Access to broadband services is generally regarded as critical to economic growth. In SA, high prices are leading to very poor penetration." This is largely due to Telkom having control of the wholesale market, Cull said.

"There is, however, a growth in wireless broadband, such as high-speed data packet access, and BMI-TechKnowledge predicts rapid growth over ADSL."

Ultimately, Cull noted, nothing is likely to change fast. "SA should expect evolution rather than revolution.

"Universal access remains the most pressing issue, as it has not been addressed. At the end of the day, it is a question of political will," he concluded.

Related stories:
Knysna WiFi system kicks off
Storm brewing over Knysna WiFi