South Africa's telecommunications
It should come as no surprise that the country that invented touchtone dialling offers world-class telecommunications.
Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing sectors of South Africa's economy, driven by rapid growth in mobile telephony and broadband connectivity.
With a network that is 99.9% digital and includes the latest in fixed-line, wireless and satellite communication, the country has the most developed telecoms network in Africa.
Fixed-line telephony
In 2009, South Africa ranked 34th in the world in terms of fixed-line telephony, with over 4.3-million fixed-line connections.
Fixed-line telephony is still dominated by Telkom, which is listed on the JSE and majority owned by the Department of Communications.
Telkom's monopoly in running fixed-line services came to an end in 2006, when the country's second fixed-line operator, Neotel, began its operations. Majority-owned by India's Tata Communications, Neotel offers telephony and data services using CDMA technology.
The introduction of number portability means that customers can switch between Telkom and Neotel, as well as between mobile networks, and retain their existing numbers.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has been working to bring down the costs of telephony by regulating mobile termination rates – the amount that operators have to pay for using another operator's network.
Mobile
South Africa is one of the fastest growing mobile communications markets in the world. As of 2009, there were over 46.4-million mobile users in South Africa, ranking the country 26th in terms of subscriber numbers.
The mobile landscape is dominated by multinational companies Vodacom and MTN, with the smaller Cell C coming in third position.
In 2010, Telkom also entered the mobile market with its own offering, 8ta, which will run off MTN's network infrastructure until Telkom rolls out its own base stations.
There are also two mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which are cellphone companies that operate in partnership with an existing mobile company, whose infrastructure they also use.
Both existing MVNOs operate in partnership with Cell C: Virgin Mobile has been operating since 2006, and has recently secured investment from a Bahamas-based investment company, while energy drink manufacturer Red Bull entered the market in 2011.
South African mobile companies are also making inroads internationally, with MTN leading the way: the company has well over 100-million subscribers in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Undersea cables and connectivity
An increase in the number of undersea data cables linking South Africa to the rest of the world, as well as market liberalisation, has seen a shake-up in local internet access, with number of South African internet users passing five-million in January 2010, finally breaking through the 10% mark in internet penetration for the country.
The Seacom submarine fibre-optic cable system linking south and east Africa to global networks via India and Europe was commissioned in July 2009, while the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), that links countries along the continent's eastern coast to the rest of the world, started service in August 2010.
The West Africa Cable System linking southern and western African countries with Europe is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2011.
Broadband usage jumps
According to surveys conducted by research firm World Wide Worx and Cisco Systems, the number of South Africans making use of broadband connections jumped by 50% between 2009 and 2010, with most of the growth coming as small and medium sized businesses upgraded to ADSL.
Each company moving from dial-up to ADSL, for example, extended internet access to general office staff. This process was found to add an additional one to 20 new users to the internet user base for every small business installing ADSL.
Growth in users has also been driven by the granting of Electronic Communications Network Services license to over 400 organisations. This meant that service providers that were previously required to buy their network access from one of the major providers could now build their own networks or choose where they wanted to buy their access.
Local connectivity
With the arrival of several international data cables to the country's shores, focus has shifted to improving connectivity within the South Africa, by building national and city-wide fibre-optic cable networks.
Broadband Infraco, the state-owned company tasked with improving internet access and bringing down broadband prices in South Africa, started selling wholesale bandwidth capacity to the country's telecoms companies and internet service providers in November 2010.
Its licence does not allow the company to offer products directly to consumers; rather it sells high-capacity long-distance transmission services to telecoms operators, internet service providers and other value added network service providers.
MTN, Vodacom and Neotel are jointly building a 5 000km fibre-optic cable network connecting several major centres across South Africa. The first phase of the cable, linking Gauteng with KwaZulu-Natal, was commissioned in June 2010.
Also in November 2010, a new player in South Africa's rapidly evolving telecoms scene, FibreCo Telecommunications, announced plans to develop a national open-access fibre-optic broadband network to improve connectivity and further reduce internet costs in the country.
FibreCo is a partnership between Cell C, ICT firm Internet Solutions, and investment management and advisory firm Convergence Partners.
SAinfo reporter. Sources:
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