South African Business 2016 edition

OVERVIEW (Continued from

OVERVIEW (Continued from page 118) International giants like Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, ICL, Cisco and Unisys have a strong presence in South Africa. International companies sometimes partner with local concerns, as in the case of Bharat Sync Technologies of India, who are rolling out mobile email push and calendar services with South Africa’s Milestone Connexions. Local manufacturing and assembly is increasing with companies such as Sahara Computers and Mecer. Since 2009, a number of new undersea cables have landed in South Africa, significantly boosting competition and making ADSL possible. Traditional technologies for broadband connection (dial-up and VSAT) are declining in popularity in South Africa as more sophisticated mobile technology becomes available. This includes WiMax, HSDPA and HSPA+. Growth in the sector is expected to be driven by mobile broadband and services that add value in the data field. Dube TradePort (DTP) has spent more than R100-million on ICT infrastructure that includes two data centres. Working with Dimension Data and Business Connexion, DTP sells voice and data services at a cheaper rate to its tenants. World Wide Worx reports that 46% of large South African firms are using cloud computing in one form or another. The Gauteng Provincial Government is developing a Smart City at Nasrec south of Johannesburg, which will comprise: • Electronics assembly and manufacturing • ICT research and development centre • ICT connectivity and transaction switching centre • Call-centre facility with 5 000-seat capacity • ICT knowledge centre in partnership with international companies such as ITE Education Services (Singapore) and MIT (US) Innovation in the sector will be encouraged by the mLab, a centre designed to support entrepreneurs in the mobile technology field. The CSIR in Pretoria hosts the facility together with The Innovation Hub. Public transport systems are moving to cashless ticketing supported by ICT. Digicore and Absa Bank have combined in Cape Town to roll out the system for minibus users driving between the city and the V&A Waterfront. With Vodacom spending in the region of R6-billion per year on its 3G and 4G long-term evolution network (LTE), the capacity of South Africa’s telecommunications network is growing fast. MTN and 8ta are also investing in LTE. MTN Business has given further weight to its intentions of supporting open access fibre networks by announcing a multi-tier model that leverages off MTN’s fibre infrastructure and applies equally to enterprise end-users, households, and SME users. Alpheus Mangale, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at MTN Business, says this solution is informed by the strategic decision the business has taken to give impetus to open access networks. “While MTN will continue to provide the high end, dedicated fibre network services complete with enterprise-grade service level agreements, smaller businesses will also benefit from MTN’s investment in its fibre infrastructure,” says Mangale. Hatfield says the market and timing is ripe for South Africa’s fibre infrastructure to graduate to the next phase that will be underpinned by shared services and infrastructure that will support greater affordability and choice. Mobile technology is being used in innovative ways by South Africa’s banking sector to gain new customers. Products include Absa’s PayPebble, Nedbank’s Approve-it, Standard Bank’s community banking and FNB’s eWallet application. Mobile phone penetration in South Africa currently stands at 138% (total connections) and 66% (individual subscribers) (Businesstech). These figures are expected to reach 171% and 79% by 2017. SECTOR INSIGHT • ICT spending is outpacing real GDP growth. • Government ICT spend is set to reach 7.6m in 2019. • Two-thirds of SA’s ICT companies are located in Gauteng. SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2016 120

MTN rolls out fibre infrastructure PROFILE FOCUS MTN Business now offers wholesale multi-tiered service offering to all. MTN Business has given further weight to its intentions of supporting open access fi bre networks by announcing a multi-tier model that leverages off MTN’s fi bre infrastructure and applies equally to enterprise end-users, households, and SME users. MTN’s multi-tier model gives MTN the ability to cater to the individual needs of each customer segment. This service is a step up from traditional offering where other service providers are able to piggy-back off MTN’s fi bre infrastructure. The next level up from this is the reseller service that smaller IT service providers or residential property managers can offer as a value-added service. Alpheus Mangale, Chief Enterprise Business Offi cer at MTN Business, says this solution is informed by the strategic decision the business has taken to give impetus to open access networks. This strategy aims to speed up the rollout of fi bre infrastructure, and thereby introduce economies of scale and choice for home and business customers. “While MTN will continue to provide the high end, dedicated fi bre network services complete with enterprise-grade service level agreements, smaller businesses will also benefi t from MTN’s investment in its fi bre infrastructure,” says Mangale. Mangale says the market and timing is ripe for South Africa’s fi bre infrastructure to graduate to the next phase that will be underpinned by shared services and infrastructure that will support greater affordability and choice. “By accelerating our rollout, we will allow competitors and customers to leverage off that infrastructure. In order to be attractive to the widest range of customers we have created distinct offerings that we believe will further accelerate broadband fi bre adoption rates.” “Choice is important in this equation and we fully support the notion of open access networks that aim to meet customer needs rather than entrenched exclusivity and proprietary systems,” Mangale concludes. 121 35 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2016