Thursday, May 06, 2004
Fixed line phones will be a fixture of the future – via the airwaves
By Guy Berger
Highway Africa News Agency
Fixed line telecoms services are far from dead, says Telkom’s Reuben September, responding to a report released by the International Telecommunications Union at the Africa Telecoms conference in Cairo.
September’s message is what the South African would say. After all, he is Chief Technical Officer of the continent’s biggest fixed line operator.
But September also approaches the subject from a wider point of view. “We shouldn’t talk about separate worlds of fixed and mobile, but about how they complement and connect with each other,” he told Highway Africa News Agency in an interview in Cairo.
“We need to merge these two worlds.”
The ITU report released at the conference hails the revolution in cellular telephony which at the end of 2003 saw almost 52 million African subscribers – double the number of fixed line phone connections.
“For most Africans mobile is the only form of telephone communications they know and may ever know,” says the report.
Reflecting on this, a headline in the document asks whether this development signals “the death of the fixed line?”. The likely future scenario, the report argues, is wireless.
For Telkom’s September, as for Mark Twain, this is a case of a death notice being somewhat exaggerated.
Firstly, September observes that the significant mobile growth requires a huge demand in network backbone infrastructure – which, he argues, is best provided via a fixed network. “This underlines the complementary nature of mobile and fixed networks.”
Secondly, “if you see GSM mobile as the only way forward, you are limiting Africans to connection rates at narrow bandwidth only,” says the Telkom executive. That rate does not give a user internet-access.
The Telkom CTO concedes, however, that cellular has forged ahead in part because many fixed line services have lagged behind in competing:
* An example is in being slow to offer the kind of pre-paid models that have been so successful in expanding the mobile market (although September excepts his own company from this criticism).
* Fixed line foot-dragging has been evident in weak promotion of applications like sms sending from fixed line phones.
* A third instance is how fixed liners have failed to offer users electronic address directories on handsets that could give users the same convenience they get from this facility when they use a cell phone.
But even if fixed line operators filled in these gaps, is there still life in their lines? Especially, noting that the ITU report says that fixed advantages like lower charges and faster data speeds are fast disappearing?
“People wrote off copper lines,” recalls September, “until ADSL gave us broadband scope through copper.” He also points out that there is huge investment in undersea trans-continental cables, which will continue to play a major role in a global patchwork of interconnecting technologies.
In short, he states, cables will be important for a long time yet.
September also puts his finger on an important distinction that could be clearer in the ITU report. This is that the term “fixed line” should not be counterposed to “wireless” as if the two were mutually exclusive. The point is that fixed lines can run on wireless systems. This means that matters “mobile” are not synonymous with matters “wireless”.
An example of “fixed wireless” is Telkom’s wireless DECT technology, which it has used to provide fixed line phone connections in many of South Africa’s informal settlements.
September acknowledges that DECT, with its low speeds, does not allow migration to the faster connections needed for anything beyond voice services. But the DECT version of fixed wireless is now being superceded by a new generation of fixed wireless links that are carried on the airwaves through systems like Wifi and Wimax.
As the ITU report notes, these technologies are cheaper to install than cable. Wifi reaches an area of a 100 metres, while WiMax has a span of about 30 km.
In future, much of Telkom’s DECT infrastructure such as poles erected for transmitters could be recycled as infrastructure for new “overlay” technologies like these, says September.
He recognises that Wifi and Wimax are limited in that they allow only restricted mobility - that is, within the area of their particular cells internal connectivity. But the Telkom executive believes this is not a major problem as he sees people as mainly utilising high bandwidth when they are stationary.
In the long term, says September, there could be interconnections between different fixed wireless cells - which would allow for a seamless flow on their Internet Protocol technologies across, for example, a whole country.
Till then, he says, the critical challenge is how to ensure that fixed wireless systems interconnect well with other systems.
September foresees fixed wireless connections, for example such as those within a small town, connecting on its edges to a global network through a range of other technologies and switches.
These other technologies could be through fixed line cable, mobile GSM, satellite or other methods. Some of these like GSM are limited to carrying mainly voice; the others are capable of multimedia.
The challenge for fixed line operators is to promote a world of interconnection and applications, says September.
Parts of the ITU report he disagrees with do in fact echo some of September’s points. For example, it says that fixed wireless systems now account for approximately a third of fixed phone lines installed in Nigeria.
Concluding the interview, September underlines his view of complementarities between fixed and mobile technologies. Whilst mobile provides good narrow-band access, fixed networks are better suited for broadband requirements, he states.
And, he adds, over time the distinction between the two will blur.
The significance of all this? There’s still a future for fixed lines that run through wires, and there’s especially a future for fixed lines that start doing the fancy footwork of wireless systems.
Until the next new technology comes along …
==========================
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the responsibility of Highway Africa.
By Guy Berger
Highway Africa News Agency
Fixed line telecoms services are far from dead, says Telkom’s Reuben September, responding to a report released by the International Telecommunications Union at the Africa Telecoms conference in Cairo.
September’s message is what the South African would say. After all, he is Chief Technical Officer of the continent’s biggest fixed line operator.
But September also approaches the subject from a wider point of view. “We shouldn’t talk about separate worlds of fixed and mobile, but about how they complement and connect with each other,” he told Highway Africa News Agency in an interview in Cairo.
“We need to merge these two worlds.”
The ITU report released at the conference hails the revolution in cellular telephony which at the end of 2003 saw almost 52 million African subscribers – double the number of fixed line phone connections.
“For most Africans mobile is the only form of telephone communications they know and may ever know,” says the report.
Reflecting on this, a headline in the document asks whether this development signals “the death of the fixed line?”. The likely future scenario, the report argues, is wireless.
For Telkom’s September, as for Mark Twain, this is a case of a death notice being somewhat exaggerated.
Firstly, September observes that the significant mobile growth requires a huge demand in network backbone infrastructure – which, he argues, is best provided via a fixed network. “This underlines the complementary nature of mobile and fixed networks.”
Secondly, “if you see GSM mobile as the only way forward, you are limiting Africans to connection rates at narrow bandwidth only,” says the Telkom executive. That rate does not give a user internet-access.
The Telkom CTO concedes, however, that cellular has forged ahead in part because many fixed line services have lagged behind in competing:
* An example is in being slow to offer the kind of pre-paid models that have been so successful in expanding the mobile market (although September excepts his own company from this criticism).
* Fixed line foot-dragging has been evident in weak promotion of applications like sms sending from fixed line phones.
* A third instance is how fixed liners have failed to offer users electronic address directories on handsets that could give users the same convenience they get from this facility when they use a cell phone.
But even if fixed line operators filled in these gaps, is there still life in their lines? Especially, noting that the ITU report says that fixed advantages like lower charges and faster data speeds are fast disappearing?
“People wrote off copper lines,” recalls September, “until ADSL gave us broadband scope through copper.” He also points out that there is huge investment in undersea trans-continental cables, which will continue to play a major role in a global patchwork of interconnecting technologies.
In short, he states, cables will be important for a long time yet.
September also puts his finger on an important distinction that could be clearer in the ITU report. This is that the term “fixed line” should not be counterposed to “wireless” as if the two were mutually exclusive. The point is that fixed lines can run on wireless systems. This means that matters “mobile” are not synonymous with matters “wireless”.
An example of “fixed wireless” is Telkom’s wireless DECT technology, which it has used to provide fixed line phone connections in many of South Africa’s informal settlements.
September acknowledges that DECT, with its low speeds, does not allow migration to the faster connections needed for anything beyond voice services. But the DECT version of fixed wireless is now being superceded by a new generation of fixed wireless links that are carried on the airwaves through systems like Wifi and Wimax.
As the ITU report notes, these technologies are cheaper to install than cable. Wifi reaches an area of a 100 metres, while WiMax has a span of about 30 km.
In future, much of Telkom’s DECT infrastructure such as poles erected for transmitters could be recycled as infrastructure for new “overlay” technologies like these, says September.
He recognises that Wifi and Wimax are limited in that they allow only restricted mobility - that is, within the area of their particular cells internal connectivity. But the Telkom executive believes this is not a major problem as he sees people as mainly utilising high bandwidth when they are stationary.
In the long term, says September, there could be interconnections between different fixed wireless cells - which would allow for a seamless flow on their Internet Protocol technologies across, for example, a whole country.
Till then, he says, the critical challenge is how to ensure that fixed wireless systems interconnect well with other systems.
September foresees fixed wireless connections, for example such as those within a small town, connecting on its edges to a global network through a range of other technologies and switches.
These other technologies could be through fixed line cable, mobile GSM, satellite or other methods. Some of these like GSM are limited to carrying mainly voice; the others are capable of multimedia.
The challenge for fixed line operators is to promote a world of interconnection and applications, says September.
Parts of the ITU report he disagrees with do in fact echo some of September’s points. For example, it says that fixed wireless systems now account for approximately a third of fixed phone lines installed in Nigeria.
Concluding the interview, September underlines his view of complementarities between fixed and mobile technologies. Whilst mobile provides good narrow-band access, fixed networks are better suited for broadband requirements, he states.
And, he adds, over time the distinction between the two will blur.
The significance of all this? There’s still a future for fixed lines that run through wires, and there’s especially a future for fixed lines that start doing the fancy footwork of wireless systems.
Until the next new technology comes along …
==========================
Highway Africa reports from Cairo are made possible with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Editorial decisions are solely the responsibility of Highway Africa.
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