Authors include: - Connect-World

Regional communications
to carry the new services. Industry
leadersknowthatwhenthenetworkis
not up to speed, revenue is lost. As
technologies forge ahead, there is a
veryrealdangerthat,withoutresilient
networks with huge capacity at their
disposal,theabilitytooffernewservicesremainsattheplanningstage.
Given the advanced technologies
available,thefutureishereandnow.
Phone users in Africa now demand
morefromtheiroperators.Theywant
tobeabletoaccessthesameservices
andthesamequality,asinEuropeor
NorthAmerica.
VoIPindustry
The booming VoIP industry sees the
needforquality.Africahasembraced
VoIP as a cost-effective and reliable
meanstocommunicatenotjustinternationally,oronapan-Africanbasis,
butlocallywithineachcountryaswell.
Traditionally, pan-African landline
services have been the preserve of a
relatively affluent, chosen minority
because of high usage charges, long
service implementation delays and
poorservice.Consumers,andspecialistsalike,nowseeVoIPasthewayto
bring communications services to
mostofAfrica.
For fixed line operators in Africa,
whoseexpensiveandunreliableservicesstruggletocompeteagainstVoIP
networks,theimplicationsoftheshift
to VoIP are ominous. VoIP has
broughttelecommunicationstothousands
of people who have never had
accesstotelecommunications.
Africaisalivewithfastmovingpeople
and businesses. It is undergoing significant
economic development and
social change brought about by
greater freedom of movement. As a
result, there is growing demand for
wireless telephone services, for reliable
and cost effective telecommunications.
Landline penetration is currently
under1.5percentandincumbenttelecommonopoliesacrossthecontinent
havebeenslowtoreacttochangesin
theAfricanbusinessclimate.
VoIPserviceproviderscanreactmore
rapidly to market conditions because
of their efficient telecommunications
infrastructure. These service
providers are playing a key role in
buildingAfrica’sabilitytotakepartin
the global information society, the
digitalage.
Fixedline
Thedevelopmentoffixedlinecommunicationsisstillconstrainedbyanumber
of factors including the speed of
deregulationwithintheAfricancontinent.
Althoughgovernmentsareliberalising
thetelecomsector,marketdemandfor
more efficient, cost effective VoIP
services often overtakes government
plans.
The use of mobile phones in Africa
reflectsthis:mobileusagedramatically
exceeds that of fixed line devices.
Theperceivedvalueofmobilephones,
evenbythelow-incomepopulation,is
suchthatAfricansspendasignificantly
higher portion of their household
earnings on communications than in
thedevelopedworld.Studiesindicate
that low-income Africans spend as
much as two-thirds of household
incomeoncommunications.
"The use of mobile
phones in Africa
reflects this: mobile
usage dramatically
exceeds that of fixed
line devices."
Recentstatisticsshowtherearesome
36 million African mobile phone
users,afigurethatisgrowingatarate
of135percentayear.VoIPandGSM
havegainedmarketshareasfixedline
operators have lost control of their
relationshipswiththeirusers.
VoIP is successful because it has the
right blend of technology, relationshipsandexpertisetodeliver.Webest
see this in developing regions where
telecommunications services have
never been able to penetrate before.
As the growth of GSM wireless networks
and other new technologies
continueinthesedevelopingregions,
peoplearebeginningtoact,toparticipate,
globally, while working and
thinkinginanAfricancontext.
Internationalcarriersarenowactively
seekingtouselocalskillsandempower
communities rather than taking a
superficial approach to the needs of
themarket.
The success and meteoric rise in the
year-on-yeargrowthinAfricanmobile
communications is largely due to the
localapproachtotheirbusiness,with
an intrinsically African strategy, that
operatorshavetaken.
Costofcalls
The falling cost of calls, driven by
VoIP,isfundamentalforAfricanbusinessusers.Untilnow,thehighcostof
calling throughout Africa (fixed-line
operatorsdonotmaintaindirectbilateral
relationships) has kept trade
withineachcountry’sboundaries.
Deregulation and private partnership
agreements have sparked a massive
fall in the cost of African country-tocountrycallsandspurredinvestment
in technology including VoIP.
Consequently, micro-enterprises and
large corporations can both trade
effectively without substantial investmentincommunicationsequipment.
In the last year, there has been an
upsurge in wireless usage both for
businessandforresidentialuserswho
justwanttotalkwithfriendsandrelatives.Today,lowcostphonepackages
makeitpossibleforentirelow-income
households,perhapswithneighbours,
to pool their resources and share a
phone. With pre-paid GSM phone
packages costing as little as US$5,
telecommunicationsarenowavailable
inlow-incomeregionsofAfricawhere
previouslyphoneswerealuxury.
WAP enabled handsets in the early
‘90s provided the first value-added
servicebreakthrough.Today,interactive
games, music messaging and
video streaming are coming online.
Downloadableorstreamedupdatesof
cricket,rugby,soccer,motorracingor
golfareavailableaspremiumservices,
allowingphoneuserstocatchthelatestscores,gamehighlights,teamprofilesandreplaysofkeymoments.
Streamingservicessendmusicvideos,
movie clips or broadcasting of live
concerts, while audio options gives
phone users access to songs or live
radiothroughtheirphones.
Mobilesarericherandmoreinvolved
theneverbefore,soplatformshaveto
bemoreflexibleandpowerfultosupportnewservicesastheycomeonline.
Africaisliketherestoftheworld:peopletherelovetotalk.Phonesareemotionally
charged, very personal possessions.
They make a statement
aboutwhotheowneris.Theyletpeoplemakestatementsaboutthemselves
by personalising their ring tones and
thedisplaystheyputontheirscreens.
12