By Haru Mutasa

ACCRA- Thomas Olawale unfolds his laptop, types in a random number onto what looks like a picture of a standard telephone and waits patiently for the phone at the end of his booth to start ringing.
The proof is in the pudding, and he repeats the process one more time to convert the unbelievers - curious onlookers amazed by what they have just seen.
“It really is a simple process,” says Olawale the unit manager for Computer Information Systems (CIS) in Ghana, “You just install the software on your computer and make your call.”
He moves to the Internet Protocol (IP) phones on display. To the untrained eye they look like normal phones but looks, in this case, are deceiving.
IP telephony has the potential to make voice traffic over traditional copper wire (which is often stolen), and using separate cabling for data transmissions a thing of the past in Africa. The phones use data packets instead of circuit-switched connections to transport information allowing both voice and data services to travel on a single, combined, cost-effective network. The process uses lower bandwidth and allows up to four simultaneous calls to be made using the same bandwidth with no degradation in quality.
“Putting a system like this in your business will mean better efficiency which means better customer care,” he says, “Installation costs are high but in the long run you will save lot of money.”
It costs an estimated $20 000 to install the system in an organisation. You only need one PABX at your main headquarters which caters for a remote office in another country.
“The beauty of this system is that you could have an organisation of 100 people and you still pay the same set up costs as a company with half this amount. So the more people you have in your company the better it is for you. The set up cost is the same.”
Developing countries and rural communities with little or no access to telephone networks stand to benefit the most from technologies like IP phones. Unfortunately the road to reaching these benefits is long and winding.
“I really don’t think it is possible to implement systems like this in a rural community just yet,” says Olawale shaking his head, “Because of the cost, it is more for the corporate businesses with the money to afford it.”
The Latter Day Saints, a church in Accra, has been using the IP phone system to do its administration for two years.
The American based organisation has the money to implement Voice 0ver IP (VoIP) systems, but poor rural communities in Africa cannot benefit from such devices that have a very real and important role to play in bridging the digital divide in Africa.
Olawale believes however, the situation will one day change for millions of disadvantaged Africans whose grandchildren may one day be using IP phones.
“In time more companies will recognise the benefits of IP phones and start using them and more people will start supplying the service. This will drive costs down and make it more affordable for more people to use.”