In reviewing the developments within the wireless arena in South Africa over the past 10 years, one can only be amazed by the rapid establishment of the wireless infrastructure, as well as the rapid adoption of the technology, particularly at the consumer level.
Even within the industrial arena, the early adopters have paved the way for the more conservative to test the water and then commit to wireless communications. This begs the question - where to from here?
William Hardie of Trinity Telecomms, a value-added distributor of wireless connectivity solutions, comments: "If the last 10 years has led us to the third generation of wireless capability through the introduction of GSM, GPRS, 3G and Edge technology, then the next 10 years should take us far beyond the sixth generation of refinement. Each successive generation of wireless technology has delivered increased speeds, which, if extrapolated into the future, means we are rapidly reaching a point where there will be no applications that cannot be run across the wireless space."
He continues: "With this limitation removed, we expect the wireless space to rapidly become the medium of choice for communications across the board, including consumer, business and industrial applications. The reasons for this include the obvious one of increased mobility, as well as other increasingly more relevant business advantages such as ease of implementation, cost savings and security advantages."
According to Hardie, the trend toward increased mobility will continue as consumers eagerly await each new generation of wireless technology and the applications it enables, such as video streaming, and the downloading and playback of MP3s on a cellphone. In the business sector, increased participation in the global marketplace, increased outsourcing, and the trend toward more flexible 'work from home' options is increasing the necessity for mobile access to voice, SMS, data, e-mail and the Internet. In the industrial sector, mobile data communications are increasingly required for applications such as vehicle tracking, mobile asset tracking, fleet management and others.
Mobility aside, wireless technology is now offering real-world business advantages which will make it the medium of choice for communications.
Ease of implementation for the end-user, due to the fact that no cabling is required, makes wireless-based applications particularly attractive, whether mobility is a requirement or not. This is of great benefit in rural areas, for example, or for any area that does not have a fixed line infrastructure due to geographical difficulties, high security risks, or other prohibiting factors. Particularly in South Africa, where service delivery throughout the country is high on the agenda, we can anticipate increased use of wireless applications to deliver and monitor services at a far reduced implementation effort and cost.
Cost benefits are expected to increasingly become a driver in the decision to opt for wireless communications. On the consumer side, the network operators have now established their infrastructures, and the next 10 years should see the benefits derived from economies of scale, which will hopefully be passed on to airtime consumers. For industrial data users, the introduction of GPRS has already enabled data communications to use previously unutilised wireless bandwidth. As a result, the network operators have benefited from increased billing revenue for the same amount of airtime, and the data consumer has benefited from reduced airtime costs for the same amount of data. If each successive generation introduces faster speeds, airtime data costs should continue to reduce into the future.
Security is another reason that wireless communications will be favoured in the next 10 years. In general, increased globalisation is likely to continue to expose consumers and businesses to an increased risk of electronic fraud. In the African context, in particular, business dealings are fraught with security risks. Any technology that provides a security advantage is likely to be adopted ahead of other technologies with similar functionality. In the wireless space, the predicted increase in speeds will make it far more difficult to intercept and interfere with communications, and will enable far more sophisticated data encryption and security options.
"Wireless communications will increasingly be used to optimise business revenue, both through enabling mobility and other applications, as well as through cost reduction and enhanced security," concludes Hardie.
The roll out of faster technologies such as Edge, 3G and HSDPA will further accelerate the uptake of wireless communications, not only in the rapidly-increasing consumer market, but to the wider industrial sector as well. As coverage, stability and reduced costs kick in, we can expect a surge in adoption that could well fasttrack wireless connectivity to becoming something of a utility, like electricity and water. The only limitation we face over the next 10 years is in the imagination of the developers and innovators!
For more information contact Gladwin Letsoalo, Trinity Telecomms, +27 (0)11 465 7377, gladwin@trintel.co.za
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