Johannesburg, 25 Oct 2006
The contentious South African telecommunications environment is driven by costs. Because the cost of fixed-line communication is high compared with other countries, it is an environment ripe for innovation and the introduction of new technologies and services. However, a multiplicity of services demands interoperability and a single standard for the success of each.
That`s according to Andy Brauer, chief technical officer at Business Connexion.
"There has been a proliferation of new technologies for faster connectivity. Consumers can choose broadband connectivity options from iBurst, Telkom ADSL, 3G and MyWireless," he says - noting that the price of ADSL came down in August, at least in part because of the competing high-speed data offerings in the market.
However, with the convergence of fixed and wireless networks, the necessity for standardisation is pressing. Brauer makes the point that regardless of the transport mechanism, people use networks for the services they deliver. "Forward-looking standardisation is a key topic, especially in terms of next-generation networks (NGN)," he says.
Migration to interoperable and harmonised network architectures is required because of the demand for global roaming and seamless mobility by users of different access technologies applied by different operators.
Brauer believes this will be one of the key South African telecommunications battlegrounds. "With Telkom ADSL coming down in price, SMEs have a cost-effective alternative for last mile connectivity. My Wireless and iBurst compete against 3G; add the emerging WiMAX 802.16e standard which should be ratified by mid-2007, and the market will be stirred up even more, pushing 3G to 4G," he says.
And while Telkom traditionally had a monopoly over voice, the cellular operators have eroded part of this business, he continues. "Hence, data will represent the next wave when the SNO gets off the ground," he says.
Addressing the need for standardisation, Brauer says a new standard approved by the International Telecommunications Union provides interworking between the two dominant technologies in the NGN environment - Ethernet and MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) - which are critical components of the evolving broadband architecture.
"The ability to offer Ethernet services means that carriers will be able to offer considerably improved flexibility to customers through a much simpler and lower cost interface. It will allow users to specify exactly how much bandwidth they want between the 10Mbps and 1Gbps range currently offered. MPLS will add the quality of service (QoS) requirements that service providers demand to the Ethernet package. Further, the standards provide reduced operation complexity and improved scalability for carriers," he explains.
British Telecom faced this problem, says Brauer - with the major issue being the necessity of a large investment risk in infrastructure.
While the issue may be challenging for operators, he says, it will not pose an issue for consumers: "The bottom line is that the end-user will be the winner. Lower cost connectivity and always-available services will become a reality."
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