Voice communications using Internet standards will be the fastest growing technology application among South African corporations in 2005. More than half the organisations interviewed in a survey conducted by World Wide Worx intend to use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for the first time this year.
According to the VoIP in SA 2005 survey released by World Wide Worx, VoIP was still an emerging technology in 2004, with 31% of surveyed corporations having implemented it. However, it will see dramatic uptake in 2005, with a total of 78% of the surveyed corporations using it by the end of the year. This suggests the emergence of a highly competitive market, and huge need for education around options, applications, implementation strategies and cost-benefit issues.
"We interviewed technical decision-makers at 100 South African corporations about their adoption and expectations of Voice over IP and least-cost routing - one of the key application areas for VoIP," says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx and co-author of the report. "With deregulation of telecommunications looming on 1 February, it was important for us to understand the impact of VoIP on the Internet in particular and telecommunications in general."
Says John Joslin, the veteran telecommunications analyst who co-authored the report, "The next decade is expected to witness a rapid transformation of the global communication system from basic telephony to a multimedia broadband network with voice, data, video, photos, instant messaging, TV, radio, and collaboration on a seamless interconnected wireline, wireless, mobile and satellite network based on Internet protocols. Developments over the last two years in the use of IP - the Internet protocol on which the World Wide Web functions - have turned this vision from a possibility into an inevitability."
VoIP will significantly enhance the already mature arena of least-cost routing, used by businesses to route outgoing phone calls via the most cost-effective channel. Until now in South Africa, VoIP could be used legally only within an organisation's own network, saving costs for calls between branches and offices. From 1 February, it will be legal to use it for all calls. The survey found that least-cost routing was already deployed extensively in 2004, and will approach saturation in 2005.
Companies were also asked to rate the impact of emerging technologies over the next five years, with most rating VoIP as having a far greater impact than the likes of 3G and WiMax, which are seen as potential carriers of VoIP rather than competitors.
"Mobile networks will probably be the biggest beneficiaries of all, but in a more subtle and long-term context," says Joslin. "The new 3G services are designed to utilise the Internet Protocol in both the core networks of the mobile providers as well as in mobile voice communication itself. IP makes for much richer communication, at lower cost."
For more information contact Ramon Thomas, [email protected]
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