Telecommunication
The Technological Pace
The telecommunications sector worldwide is characterised by rapid growth fuelled by user demand for advanced products that allow for better product quality and convergence of technologies namely data, voice, broadcast media and video. The cost of product offerings continues to decline as new technologies drive down the cost of deployment and more and more users are brought on line.
In order to offer all the above services on a common platform, technology has had to make a quantum leap forward by developing systems that can deliver cost-effective bandwidth. The development of high quality optic fibre cabling facilitated the beginning of this process and made a business case for the deployment of cable to businesses and homes. The same cable network is now used to offer consumers data, video and voice services. The need for real-time data processing for business as well as that of video and broadcast media for leisure has driven the demand for high bandwidth at higher speeds.
A Wireless Solution
As happened in the past with fixed-line telephony, the need for affordable mobility and flexibility has meant that wireless technology is fast surpassing fixed line (optic fibre and cable) as transmission platforms for broadband deployment. This need for mobility has given rise to 3G (3rd Generation wireless connectivity on a GSM platform), Wi-Fi and most recently Wi-Max (World Interoperability for Microwave Access) technologies. The three technologies offer varying levels of nomadic portability but the main differentiation is in the bandwidth capabilities for broad-band connectivity. 3G technology was initially designed as a voice platform and that has an inherent limitation because the quality of service starts to degrade with higher data bandwidth demand. Wi-Fi technology is less effective in offering nomadic connectivity as it relies on line-of-sight to be effective. That leaves
Wi-Max technology which, although it does not yet offer full mobility, does have full nomadic capability. The flexibility in the three wireless technologies is in their ease of deployment. This is an advantage when connecting services to areas without a fibre-optic infrastructure i.e. the last-mile connection. A factor in favour of Wi-Max is that Intel intends rolling out Wi-Max capability in its future chipsets. Intel Chipsets are in 98% of computers worldwide.
African challenges
In Mozambique and South Africa there were major challenges facing the industry, the first is the regulatory environment where CSIP are licensed in Mozambique and South Africa.
On the adoption rates, it is quite evident that present players like the fixed line licence holders Telkom and Neotel and the three GSM operators are too entrenched in their present business models and capacity. They are slow to adopt what is fast becoming a world standard in wireless technology in their South African operations partly as a consequence of the regulatory environment. MTN and Vodacom have rolled out a Wi-Max network in some of their African operations.
A number of telecoms players like Verizon, Altech, MWeb and Internet Solutions, have applied to the regulators INCM and ICASA for licenses to operate on the 2.6 GHz spectrum as they have seen the gap in the market. It is highly likely that in the very near future Wi-Max technology shall be offering a truly mobile connectivity.
CSIP
CSIP is a Mozambican and South African telecoms company that was formed in 2005 to primarily offer wireless services to underserviced areas. Over the past 4 years the company saw an opportunity to consolidate all the Value-Added-Network (VANS) operators most of whom were operating without licenses.
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