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STUDY ABROAD OPTIONS
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SEYMOUR HOWE ON VOIP Seymour Howe has spent the last 27 years in all levels of management in telecoms, both in South Africa and overseas, as well as being an independent management consultant for almost 7 years. He has returned to South Africa having spent the last 13 months in a Senior Management position with Ericsson in The UK and has decided to return to South Africa where he will specialise as a consultant in in telecoms and convergence issues. Below he gives his views on the future of VOIP, something he sees as a lost opportunity for South Africa: INTEGRATED SERVICES - A SOUTH AFRICAN REALITY OR LONG TERM TRAGEDY? I recently attended the 3rd Annual World Conference on VOIP technologies. I found myself sitting there wearing two caps ­ My "U.K. Cap" as a delegate of "The Big Swedish One"(Ericcson, my former employer) and my " Rainbow Nation Cap " in proud, excited anticipation of the impending death of South African Telecom monopolies in the not too distant future. The excitement was based on the dynamic vibrant industry that was being created in the rest of the World out of the essential convergence of these two technologies: telecoms and the internet. The inevitable was now reality with the key words being "Partnerships", "Co-operation" and "Development". The old Voice-versus-Data argument was no longer valid with the hand of co-operation and development being extended to all. Voice over I.P. (VOIP) was a widespread reality with major corporations attesting to its efficiency and economics. I was excited! ­ South Africa would soon be in it's final phase of deregulation with a new competitor(s?) to Telkom opening up the world of Integrated Services to a constantly demanding but frustrated consumer. In Europe and North America, economies had boomed, unemployment was at its lowest, the demand for skills creation was massive. This was the Economic "Start Button " that South Africa so desperately needed. V.O.I.P. was the new demand of the Marketplace, the big step towards truly integrated services ­ South Africa had heard the demands and was ready to join the World's "E" economy! How had this European/American transformation come about? If one looks at the European model of the early 70's, it was quite similar to South Africa today ­ Government controlled monopolies which did not allow any choice for the Consumer ­ the services (?) were limited to the inefficiencies of the PSTN and its Operators.The first phase of European de-regulation saw new players enter the Marketplace creating new opportunities and competitive pricing from which the Consumer AND the Operators all benefited. The economics of this very early stage of de-regulation were soon seen by all ­ the huge costs associated with setting up these networks could be recovered far quicker by Multiple Operators as well as newly created Re-sellers buying unused bandwidth in bulk and passing on these cost effective services to the demanding Consumer ­ Everyone was a Winner, not least, the unemployed masses - One merely has to look at today's business of Call Centres. Vast quantities of jobs that can be created in Africa for people with minimal skills after minimal training to see that these changes in technological development are capable of bringing about long term, life changing benefits to everyone. Back to the Convergence issues. Following deregulation, what were the factors that brought these two technologies together? Telecom's Operators continued with their steady growth patterns however still with "Cartel-istic" attitudes ­ "as long as we're no worse than our Competitors." whilst Datacom's business on the other hand, zoomed ahead and was mushrooming! Datacom's less regulated focus being on Consumer needs in an increasingly competitive environment. Say no more! The economics of this spare bandwidth allowed the newly emerging I.S.P's and subsequent Dotcom's to gain access to these networks at a very low entry level whilst previously, the barriers of regulation kept this convergence apart. Regulation creates barriers between the two technologies denying the Consumer what they want. Familiar? Today's consumers want integrated networks in order to be able to compete in today's global economy. Full deregulation as seen in the European example allowed the two previously opposing and separate sides of the model to address the market demands for integrated services. Both parties now had a choice ­ either buy in expertise, voice or data, or enter into mutually beneficial Partnerships thereby changing the previously, vertically integrated marketing models. These partnerships also allowed the development of new actors, niche players who complimented and enhanced the total solutions offerings. New Players, New Employers, New Skills DevelopmentŠ In a truly Global Economy, the pace is dictated by the market demands ­ the European model is no different to the South African model in its needs. Today, South Africans are demanding faster reaction times, higher levels of support and telecoms Management, access to unbiased or "steered" Business Management Consulting and of course "total solutions" to their requirements. This is now being denied to South Africans and definitive statements regarding an extension of Telkom's monopoly merely take S.A further back down the rungs of the first world ladder that they are trying to scale. The synergistic growth achieved through this deregulation shows that this extension for Telkom is not just a year's delay. It pushes back our great country's development and growth and makes it that much more difficult to gain the foothold we need to lead Africa into the future. Deregulation invites competition, it invites investment, it creates jobs and opportunities, it creates security, it diminishes unemployment, it reduces crime ­ need I go on? Where is this truly great "Democracy" that we all bought into? V.O.I.P? ­ Sorry, not today thank you! We've all seen the cost of installing and running ISDN and Diginet lines and unfortunately they are limited to the privileged few multinationals who can afford such monopolistic extortion. I recall quite clearly chatting to the CEO of possibly the world's largest supplier of routers who proudly spoke of his entire worldwide voice requirements within his own organisation, being handled by a Server based Platform ­ with the exception of South Africa! With some amusement, he likened this scenario to Henry Ford announcing the birth of the motor car. It would be exported to South Africa but petrol would cost more as the car would remain under government control! In South Africa, we have all of the components and resources; we just don't have the power to light the spark. We, the Consumer are that spark! The South African and other African governments need to urgently redefine and rewrite their telecommunications policies. Private sector initiatives driven by market forces should determine our future infrastructure, not the monopolistic attitudes that prevail in the shortsighted "political empires" controlling these critical economic growth areas. Next years VOIP conference? Far from proudly wearing my "Rainbow Nation Cap" with pride over our giant leap forward, I will probably be sheepishly eating it having had to contradict my proud words and emotions of 2001! Seymour Howe will be operating from 1 May 2001 as an Independent Consultant in Telecoms and Convergence. both nationally and internationally providing services to organisations like SMEs through to multinationals. For details: Seymour Howe (Apshowe@iafrica.com )
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This page last updated on January 28 2004.
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