TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Winter 1, Eskom 0

      22 June 2022

      What it will take to bring the Guptas to justice

      22 June 2022

      Inflation in South Africa spikes higher

      22 June 2022

      Eskom announces massive escalation in load shedding

      22 June 2022
    • World

      Tether to launch a stablecoin tied to the British pound

      22 June 2022

      Tech giants form metaverse standards body, without Apple

      22 June 2022

      There are still unresolved matters in Twitter deal, Musk says

      21 June 2022

      5G subscriptions to top one billion in 2022: Ericsson

      21 June 2022

      Crypto lenders face a DeFi drubbing

      21 June 2022
    • In-depth

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022

      Sheryl Sandberg’s ad empire leaves a complicated legacy

      2 June 2022

      Tulipmania meets the real economy at WhatsApp speed

      30 May 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Act now, or become dumb pipes

    Act now, or become dumb pipes

    News By Editor15 April 2011
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Grant Brewer

    The next Apple or Google may be found among African telecommunications providers — if they take advantage of mobile applications and services where their Western counterparts haven’t.

    Grant Brewer, partner at Ernst & Young, says African operators have the advantage of being able to monitor how the data traffic boom in international markets could affect their operations when Internet access becomes more prevalent on the continent.

    In countries such as the US and Europe, telecoms players didn’t expect the boom in data traffic on their networks. The phenomenon allowed companies like Netflix, Google and Apple to tap into telecoms operators’ customer base and gather revenues, leaving carriers as nothing more than dumb pipes.

    Brewer says African players are grappling with business models that will hopefully help them avoid the same fate. “There is space in Africa for someone to to do an Apple or Netflix, but there is also the chance that an international player will take on the market before local players get stuck in,” he says.

    The mobile data boom internationally has been driven largely by the high penetration of smartphones and Brewer says Africa still has a way to go to catch up.

    In the past few years, Africa has enjoyed strong growth in the number of users accessing data, largely thanks to the introduction of undersea cables like Seacom.

    Increasingly, African operators have to look at new revenue streams as the voice market begins to saturate and Internet traffic increases.

    Brewer says there is a general misconception that with increased data traffic comes lower margins and decreased voice traffic. “But operators in Africa have been lucky, because voice networks on the continent are often of poor quality, and as users move from voice to data, they free up capacity on the voice side.”

    He says this means operators can charge premium rates for better voice quality.

    However, he says African operators should start providing applications and content and as soon as possible. “There is a danger that a company like Netflix could enter the market and leave carriers as plumbing rather than revenue gatherers,” he says.  — Candice Jones, TechCentral

    • See also: MTN to launch app store as dynamics of mobile shift
    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook
    Apple Ernst & Young Google Grant Brewer Netflix Seacom
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleBrics nations back R3bn Brazil-SA mega cable
    Next Article Icasa to work with consumer commission

    Related Posts

    The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

    22 June 2022

    Winter 1, Eskom 0

    22 June 2022

    What it will take to bring the Guptas to justice

    22 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    More than card machines – iKhokha diversifies to reach more SMEs

    22 June 2022

    What does it cost to be a student in 2022?

    22 June 2022

    Rugged PCs bring AI to the edge in industrial settings

    21 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.