Deidre Jonker, BitCo

On 1 February 2005, South Africa was freed from the clutches of the only telephone operator the country had ever known. The aim: to allow fair competition within telecoms resulting in better service and pricing for the end-consumer. Subsequently, an influx of various operators, resellers, voice wholesalers and agents has ensued. The important common factor to note is that among them, VOIP prevails.

From what I have experienced, the general consensus within the telecommunications industry predicts it will only take approximately 15 years before all of SA is using VOIP. What does that mean for consumers? Calls rates so low they are virtually free.

The reason VOIP is so cost-effective is because data is being transmitted; the prediction is that eventually users’ “minutes” will fall away entirely, and they will be billed for data usage. It sounds widely exciting, doesn’t it? It is! VOIP technology is flexible and fast to deploy. It is already significantly cheaper than traditional telephony and shows no signs of stopping. My advice when moving over to (or already enjoying the benefits of) VOIP…know thy tier 1 operator.

No matter what a user’s choice of service provider is, calls will be terminated over the first tier operator’s network. A quick way to determine the tier 1 operator is to ask: “Who owns the infrastructure?” A tier 1 operator owns its network entirely. That is, the infrastructure (physical equipment), interconnect agreements and last mile.

Interconnect agreements allow operators to connect directly without going through an intermediate party. There are significantly reduced connection costs in doing so. The last mile refers to physical connection that a provider can offer into a user’s premises. This can be ADSL, fibre or wireless (microwave technology). The majority of connectivity faults are found over the last mile; for example, copper is vulnerable to theft, in turn leaving users vulnerable too. Most providers or tier 2 operators onwards rely on a tier 1 operator for the last mile.

Be sure to know who your last mile connection is with: uptime is their responsibility.

About the author: Deidre Jonker is marketing manager at BitCo.