by Adlane Fellah An Interview With Telkom SA
Maravedis: What is the current situation of broadband access in South Africa?
Telkom SA: Well, Telkom currently does offer ADSL services. ADSL is a best effort service and no guarantees are provided on throughput. Increasing demand for speedy and always-available Internet access in South Africa has seen Telkom's ADSL's subscriber base surging from 50 000 to 60 000 in the last two months. The process of equipping Telkom's telephone lines with DSL capability to meet the demand is continuing at a fast pace, with ports now available at about 80% of our lines. Telkom reduced ADSL prices to mark its 50 000 customers milestone, and introduced an entry level HomeDSL 192 offering for R329 per month. The price move was part of Telkom's approach to manage down ADSL costs. Driving the ADSL growth is the business market, which has realized the benefits of spending less on their ADSL service than on previously billed call units to connect to the Internet.
The provision ADSL service has been the subject of robust public debate, with issues ranging from the capping of the service to the pricing fueling confusion in the market. This led to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) gazetting a Section 27 enquiry on the provision of the ADSL service late last year. But much of what led to the ADSL enquiry is water under the bridge now.
Telkom is not the only provider of fast access Internet services. Users also have a choice of Sentech's MyWireless 128 and 256, WBS's iBurst and Vodacom's 3G - all of which are comparable to Telkom's ADSL service.
Maravedis: What is Telkom SA status today vis-à-vis BWA? Have you deployed proprietary systems yet? What is your experience with BWA?
Telkom SA: Well with regards to BWA/WiMAX, currently no proprietary systems are deployed. Trials are being conducted with selected customers. Telkom, South Africa's recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Intel to collaborate in the trials for the next-generation WiMAX broadband technology in a bid to facilitate a wireless alternative for the 'last mile' broadband connectivity. The MOU signals Telkom's determination to introduce the necessary infrastructure to leverage the next-generation WiMAX broadband wireless technology, and use it to complement fixed broadband services in a move to provide a total approach to broadband penetration.
As part of the trials, Telkom has installed two Alvarion base stations operating on the IEEE 802.16a standard at the CSIR and the Lukasrand sites in Pretoria following an agreement with Grintek to run trial sites with Alvarion's BreezeMax Wireless Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) solution.
"We have already demonstrated VoIP communication in conjunction with data transmission. The installations at the customer premises are currently of the first generation outdoor type," said Msimango.
Maravedis: What are your expectations vis-à-vis WiMAX?
Telkom SA: In addition to complementing fixed-line networks, said Telkom's Managing Executive for Network Infrastructure Provisioning Thami Msimango, the technology being tested would potentially open new market opportunities and close gaps. Msimango said the WiMAX trials began in earnest with a small number of trial customers connected to two sites in Pretoria.
Maravedis: What are the conditions needed for massive deployments?
Telkom SA: The delivery of last mile access would continue to be one of the biggest technical challenges facing the ICT industry as broadband offering could not only be resolved with DSL or fibre solutions. "Today's customers want portability and mobility in addition to just broadband connectivity. Wireless broadband technology has the potential to satisfy these customer demands. In addition, this technology has the potential of opening new market opportunity through fillings gaps and complementing the fixed line networks," added Msimango.
"True" WiMAX 802.16e will enable Telcos to offer many services to their customers. The attractive aspects of WiMAX are:
- Through-put
- LOS/NLOS
- Cost of Equipment
Unlicensed bands 2.4 and 5.8 GHZ in Africa1
There is significant diversity in the regulation of these bands across Africa. Not only do licensing requirements and conditions change widely from country to country, but so do power, range and service restrictions as well as equipment certification requirements.
According to a recent survey by the MIT of regulators across Africa, that as the burden of licensing for transmission on these bands is relaxed, there is often an increase in restrictions on power, range, or type of service. Furthermore, regulation may simply not be in place in some countries and is changing in others, while enforcement is often low in countries where regulations do exist. This diversity in regulations notwithstanding, these bands are indeed being utilized for wireless internet services in most African countries, often providing "hotspot" style coverage in urban areas, but also in some settings providing infrastructure coverage over larger areas. A significant 37% of the countries that responded are using wireless technologies operating in these bands for backhaul network connectivity in rural areas.
Diversity in regulations across the continent inhibits economies of scale and may discourage large entrants. Furthermore, the lack of clarity and enforcement discourages innovation and small entrepreneurs.
The survey results further show that the more "unlicensed" the bands, the more technical restrictions are imposed that limit their application. This means that information about licensing will not, on its own, properly characterize the possible uses of these bands. I.e.: the fact that a band is unlicensed does not necessarily mean that access or use is easier, since regulation can be accompanied by specific restrictions for use, for example in terms of power and range. One of the responses to the survey, for example, describes the situation where use is unlicensed, but “if one intends to use either band beyond the boundaries of one’s property, it's illegal”15. It is therefore important to understand which kinds of restrictions accompany the regulations.
Technical restrictions can be applied in many different ways. Use can be restricted, for example, by limiting the power, or circumscribing the allowed range – by limiting it to indoors, or to the bounds of a particular property, etc. These two are obviously related, since power will determine the range and vice-versa.
Enforcement
An indirect form of restriction is the type of enforcement in place, i.e., rules can be very restrictive, but if no enforcement is in place, it is equivalent to say that the conditions of use are relaxed. The survey results show that enforcement of these rules is limited. The survey asked the regulators if the regulations in the 2.4 and 5GHz bands were strictly enforced. It further asked whether regulators had the capacity (technical or other) to enforce regulations. Some of the responses affirmed that regulations were strictly enforced. Nevertheless, some of these regulators did not have the capacity to do it. It is significant that even though 50% of the countries contacted say the regulations are strictly enforced, only 20% says it has the capacity to do so. 30% of the countries explicitly say they do not enforce the regulations.
Further restrictions can be applied on the type of services to be used, by for example, barring voice services. Not allowing voice services, for example by barring VoIP can be a way of protecting the incumbent and existing operators by shielding them from competition.
The 2.4 and 5 GHz bands are used in almost all African countries
Despite the heterogeneity and potential restrictions imposed upon these bands, they are being used in most African countries. The main users are ISPs, followed by telecommunications operators. There are reports of the advantages of using these bands, such as the low cost and reduced fees and barriers to entry. The Study finds that the most common use of these bands is for “hotspots” or other localized coverage in urban areas. Nonetheless, a significant 37% of the countries that responded are using wireless technologies operating in these bands for providing backhaul network connectivity in rural areas– this may point to a particular need that can be filled through the use of these technologies.
1Abstract from MIT Study
About the Author:
Adlane Fellah, MBA, is CEO and founder of Maravedis Inc. a world-leader in market research and analysis, specializing in BWA and VoIP markets. He is the author of the newly released landmark report "WiMAX and Broadband Wireless (Sub-11Ghz) Worldwide Market Analysis and Trends 2005-2010". He is a leading industry analyst on wireless broadband technologies and recently conducted an extensive survey of regulators worldwide to build a unique BWA/WiMAX license holders & Spectrum database. He can be reached at afellah@maravedis-bwa.com.
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