Sign up with GoogleSA's incumbent telecom operators - Telkom and the cellular providers - are about to face a spirited new challenger in their core market of voice telephony. Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) is modifying its broadband wireless network, known as iBurst, so it can offer voice services to consumers.
"We will compete head-on with other voice operators," says WBS chief operating officer Thami Mtshali. "We have the scope to undercut them. Our plan is to offer affordable voice telephony."
WBS is installing equipment in its base stations that will ensure quality of service in voice dialling. The system, which will use voice-over-IP (VoIP), will be offered as a value-added service to WBS's broadband Internet clients. It will also be made available as a standalone option to consumers and will even be available through public payphones.
Japanese electronics firm Kyocera, which manufactures the iBurst technology, is assisting WBS in upgrading its network to support quality-of-service voice telephony. Kyocera is expected to start shipping its first iBurst-ready handsets, which will look similar to cellphones, in the first quarter of 2006.
Mtshali says WBS will test its voice network for the next two months and plans to launch a commercial voice service by November.
Also in the offing is a VoIP payphone service, aimed at taking advantage of the huge market in SA for mobile public payphones. WBS has built a suitcase unit which it hopes to sell to commercial payphone operators, most of which currently use the cellular operators' networks.
At the same time, Mtshali says WBS is accelerating the development of its broadband data network. It has established 33 base stations in Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban at a cost of just under R100m. It will now spend a further R200m expanding this network to 200 sites. It will put up new towers to plug gaps in its coverage in the major cities and it also plans to extend coverage to areas such as Polokwane, Mafikeng, East London, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Bethlehem. Most of this expansion will take place in the next six to 12 months, Mtshali says.
WBS has more than 8 000 subscribers and expects to more than double this, to almost 20 000, by the end of the year.
The iBurst network has not been without its teething problems, though. Shortly after commercial launch earlier this year, WBS summarily cut off customers who had exceeded their monthly allocated bandwidth, angering many users. More recently, it began barring its clients from using third-party, outgoing e-mail servers. It said it implemented the measure because clients using third-party e-mail servers were generating a significant volume of spyware and spam (junk mail).
Perhaps mindful of the public relations disasters that almost sank rival Sentech's MyWireless Internet service, Mtshali says: "We will make mistakes but our intention is to serve our customers very well indeed."
Despite rumours to the contrary, Mtshali says WBS is not planning to sell its network. He admits, though, that the company has received a number of offers. Two of these have been from large SA Internet service providers and one has been from a big international telecom operator, he says.
"We will compete head-on with other voice operators," says WBS chief operating officer Thami Mtshali. "We have the scope to undercut them. Our plan is to offer affordable voice telephony."
WBS is installing equipment in its base stations that will ensure quality of service in voice dialling. The system, which will use voice-over-IP (VoIP), will be offered as a value-added service to WBS's broadband Internet clients. It will also be made available as a standalone option to consumers and will even be available through public payphones.
Japanese electronics firm Kyocera, which manufactures the iBurst technology, is assisting WBS in upgrading its network to support quality-of-service voice telephony. Kyocera is expected to start shipping its first iBurst-ready handsets, which will look similar to cellphones, in the first quarter of 2006.
Mtshali says WBS will test its voice network for the next two months and plans to launch a commercial voice service by November.
Also in the offing is a VoIP payphone service, aimed at taking advantage of the huge market in SA for mobile public payphones. WBS has built a suitcase unit which it hopes to sell to commercial payphone operators, most of which currently use the cellular operators' networks.
At the same time, Mtshali says WBS is accelerating the development of its broadband data network. It has established 33 base stations in Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban at a cost of just under R100m. It will now spend a further R200m expanding this network to 200 sites. It will put up new towers to plug gaps in its coverage in the major cities and it also plans to extend coverage to areas such as Polokwane, Mafikeng, East London, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Bethlehem. Most of this expansion will take place in the next six to 12 months, Mtshali says.
WBS has more than 8 000 subscribers and expects to more than double this, to almost 20 000, by the end of the year.
The iBurst network has not been without its teething problems, though. Shortly after commercial launch earlier this year, WBS summarily cut off customers who had exceeded their monthly allocated bandwidth, angering many users. More recently, it began barring its clients from using third-party, outgoing e-mail servers. It said it implemented the measure because clients using third-party e-mail servers were generating a significant volume of spyware and spam (junk mail).
Perhaps mindful of the public relations disasters that almost sank rival Sentech's MyWireless Internet service, Mtshali says: "We will make mistakes but our intention is to serve our customers very well indeed."
Despite rumours to the contrary, Mtshali says WBS is not planning to sell its network. He admits, though, that the company has received a number of offers. Two of these have been from large SA Internet service providers and one has been from a big international telecom operator, he says.
