| [Johannesburg,
16 November 2004] -
Industry players are upbeat about the possibilities
for voice over IP (VOIP) to change the way companies
do business, but some feel it is still an immature
technology.
“There is a lot of expectation surrounding the
issue of VOIP since the deregulation announcements,
and on 1 February 2005 a new game will begin,” UUNet
SA's regulatory and operations executive Edwin
Thompson told delegates at ITWeb's ‘VOIP: The Way
Forward' conference, held today at The Campus in
Bryanston.
Thompson says the reason the industry is so excited
about VOIP is that it is allowing for the amalgamation
of the previously separate worlds of voice and data,
it will improve business efficiencies, provide freedom
of choice and give companies the ability to manage a
single overall IT strategy.
“I believe the [communications] minister's key
objectives are to minimise the disparity between rural
and urban communities, increase the accessibility of
technology and allow for the growth of small business
operations,” he says.
“There are many challenges that have to be
overcome, but the benefits to be had from doing so
will make it all worthwhile.”
He points out that among the challenges is the
issue of interconnection, as well as those of
combining new technologies with existing
infrastructures and the adoption of new business
models, which will have to occur as data providers
begin to operate voice systems.
“The benefits, however, include serious issues
like bridging the digital divide, creating new
investment opportunities – such as those in the
contact centre arena – and increasing people's
skills in order to operate in the new environment.
“Other benefits are improved operational
efficiencies for organisations and a whole new
approach to building a network, since you no longer
need separate networks for data and voice,” says
Thompson.
Improved
productivity
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UUNet
SA's regulatory and operations executive
Edwin Thompson.
|
Mitel MD Andy Bull
agrees that VOIP and IP telephony will not only be
good for the industry, but will help us to change the
way people work.
“Today there is a
need for increased responsiveness in terms of
real-time communications, as many business people
today have to make decisions on the fly, while there
is also a need for greater proximity to clients and
partners,” he says.
“VOIP can help to
extend working hours and make them more flexible,
allowing workers to operate from home if needs be, and
it will also allow for opportunistic communication, so
there will no longer be a need to set up formal
meetings, these can instead be done through video or
voice link-ups.”
He says the aim at the
end of the day is to improve productivity and speed up
the time it takes to make decisions.
“The real question is
how does SA get there? I believe we will have to adopt
an evolutionary approach, as companies are unlikely to
simply rip out their old communication system and
replace it.
“Businesses will want
to grow their systems as they can afford to do so, and
by doing it in a piecemeal approach, it allows them to
‘put a toe in the water', so to speak, and test what
VOIP can do for them.
“The idea is to lead
the evolution to IP telephony at the customers'
pace,” says Bull.
Words
of warning
“Before the industry
gets too excited about VOIP, it needs to be aware of
some of the pitfalls and unresolved issues that could
still affect this technology,” claims Dr Russell
Achterberg, Telkom's head of technology strategy and
integration.
 |
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Mitel
MD Andy Bull.
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“People need to
understand that VOIP is technologically inferior to
voice provided over a PSTN, although it does lead to
the creation of some interesting business models. The
real reason for the excitement is that what were
traditionally closed markets are now starting to open
up.
He says there are still
many unknowns with regard to the regulatory position,
and there are numerous opinions as to where we will
end up, but at present the industry has to wait and
see exactly what stance the government takes.
“There is still a lot
of confusion surrounding the issue, with many of those
organisations hoping to provide VOIP services seeking
an extremely liberalised market, while the incumbents
believe the regulator is not going to interpret the
determinations too liberally,” he says.
Achterberg says that in
truth, Telkom feels the determinations cannot bring
about a major policy shift, as they relate to an
existing Act. However, with the second draft of the
Convergence Bill due soon, this could bring about such
a policy shift.
“Everyone needs to
remember that it took PSTNs 100 years to sort out
interoperability issues, and VOIP has now taken us
back to square one, as it is an immature technology
that is ill-defined in regulatory terms.
“There is still
plenty of work to be done on the VOIP business case,
as you cannot simply cut-and-paste a standard business
model onto this technology.”
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