{"id":84121,"date":"2013-08-12T22:46:44","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T20:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=84121"},"modified":"2013-08-13T08:33:24","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T06:33:24","slug":"one-sim-for-sa-cellular-networks-planned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/84121-one-sim-for-sa-cellular-networks-planned.html","title":{"rendered":"One SIM for SA cellular networks planned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internet Solutions (IS<\/a>) is working on a service that will offer a white-labelled subscriber identity module (SIM) that could switch end users between South Africa\u2019s mobile networks.<\/p>\n

This is according to chief solutions and marketing officer at Internet Solutions, Tony Walt<\/a>, who said that the idea is that the SIM could select the best network based on a number of factors, including cost.<\/p>\n

Walt was speaking to MyBroadband about the benefits of a wholesale open access mobile network, which is a cellular network\u00a0where mobile service providers share specific sections of wireless network infrastructure.<\/p>\n

One of the benefits of a wholesale network, according to executives at South Africa\u2019s mobile operators, is that it spreads the running costs among several companies that then compete with one another.<\/p>\n

\"Tony

Tony Walt<\/p><\/div>\n

This would help make it feasible to provide better cellular coverage to under-serviced areas, Vodacom<\/a>, MTN<\/a>, Cell C<\/a>, and Telkom Mobile<\/a> have said previously.<\/p>\n

According to Walt, an open access network could also be built in such a way to let smaller, niche service providers enter the space; this would spur competition and in turn, innovation.<\/p>\n

He said that similar to smaller Wi-Fi-based wireless Internet service providers, these niche operators could focus on serving their communities with competitive mobile products that larger players either can\u2019t or won\u2019t provide.<\/p>\n

This raised the question of how subscribers on operators with a smaller footprint would access the rest of the wholesale network. Would this not result in complex roaming regulations or other requirements on operators using the wholesale network?<\/p>\n

Walt said that such interoperability wouldn\u2019t come from the regulator, but from the industry itself. Not beating about the bush, Walt said that Internet Solutions is one such industry player best-positioned to do this.<\/p>\n

Even without the benefit of an open access network, Walt said that IS is looking at offering a white-labelled SIM that third-party providers could buy from them and brand however they wish.<\/p>\n

\"Hayden

Hayden Lamberti<\/p><\/div>\n

Asked which networks these SIMs would connect to, Hayden Lamberti<\/a>, mobility lead at Internet solutions said that they couldn\u2019t give a definite answer at this stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are consulting with our technical teams to ensure we could build a solution that would offer the best chance of uninterrupted service to our clients, and at this point we are still in an exploratory stage,\u201d Lamberti said.<\/p>\n

It is also far too soon to say when they expect to start offering the white-labelled SIM, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternet Solutions is investigating the viability of such an option, and conducting various feasibility studies,\u201d Lamberti said.<\/p>\n

More SIM and cellular news<\/h3>\n

Afrihost Mobile\u2019s plan to remove bill shock<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cheapest prepaid mobile products in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cell C-FNB talks have industry abuzz: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

SIM card hack: are you affected?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Dual-SIM for your iPhone, Galaxy S4<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A SIM card that could automatically switch you between South Africa\u2019s mobile networks is being investigated at Internet Solutions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":84129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[35,20077,20557,20913],"class_list":["post-84121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-headline","tag-internet-solutions-is","tag-mobile-virtual-network-operator-mvno","tag-subscriber-identity-module-sim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84121"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84173,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84121\/revisions\/84173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}