Looking back over the past year it is difficult to focus on anything other than ICT as it again provided much to talk about and comment on.
Communication dominated the technology media with debates about broadband, uncapped ADSL and local loop unbundling (LLU). I believe that discussion on communication will dominate for some years to come as it makes its presence felt in almost every industry.
During the past year there was a noticeable increase in focus on the use of wireless applications in the measurement and automation and control industries.
Perhaps one of the major inhibitors to full-scale integration of wireless in these industries is the lack of a universal standard, although various sectors seem to be working together to make this happen. It will be an interesting sector to watch for new developments.
MTN was one of the first to introduce uncapped ADSL but soon the excitement changed to frustration. It is all very well to have an uncapped service but if it slows down due to congestion what is the point?
Some MTN customers have gone back to the capped ADSL service as they enjoy the speed and would rather pay for the extra bandwidth when they need it. After all, in life you generally get only what you pay for!
Telkom was a latecomer with uncapped ADSL but introduced it differently. As Telkom put it “to feed the hunger for data Telkom has tailored its Do Uncapped range according to consumer usage patterns derived from findings of the company’s broadband trial on higher caps conducted earlier in the year.” But I cannot agree with Telkom’s Steven White that increased data volumes are favoured over data speeds. Who wants to be able to download a video if it takes all night?
Telkom was clever to protect its uncapped ADSL product image by reducing the speed during business hours to protect business customers and allow consumer users higher speeds at night.
During October, Telkom also announced uncapped ADSL for its business customers which is not speed-restricted but like all ADSL services, subject to an “acceptable usage policy”. The latter is a debatable point and open to interpretation.
The telco industry claimed they were not involved in a price war but when 8.ta came onto the market with its mobile data network, on-network data prices were reduced to substantially below the going rate of other networks.
And then there was LLU. It went around full circle. The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) was pressurised to get itself into gear to facilitate the unbundling and when this did not happen fast enough, industry changed its mind and unbundling was for some no longer an issue as wireless would be the last mile of choice.
Then a statement did the rounds that said, “Hey guys, fixed line access is here to stay and will play an important role in providing broadband at home and in the office, while wireless will be the mobile access choice.” During the ICASA hearing, it was another story.
At the hearing, Telkom was outspoken in its opposition and pointed out what it called myths. Perhaps the most interesting one is that taxpayers did not fund the Telkom local loop. When Telkom came into being in 1991, it received assets from the state valued at R12-billion but it took over a liability of R14-billion.
Over the next 20 years, Telkom invested R65-billion and received around R4-billion from government as its primary stakeholder. Why would a company share its hard-earned assets for others to make money?
Another question I ponder is that if the local loop is so important to the other telcos, why have they not invested in copper in the ground? Their licences don’t stop them from doing so!
No doubt the debate will continue well into 2012.
Source: EngineerIT
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