The local economy seems to be doing well, which is obviously good for Opto Africa as more businesses are prepared to spend money on expansion, and implement control solutions geared at increasing efficiency.
We find there is more interest in our solutions both locally and abroad, which points to confidence in the market.
2005 was good in terms of maintaining existing business, generating new business, but importantly for us, customers seem to be interested in knowing more about Opto Africa's solutions, and the technology we supply and integrate. This points to a steady growth going forward for 2006 and beyond. The run up to year-end in 2005 was very busy and I do not see signs of it slowing next year.
Although we do not do that much exporting, we offer solutions to other countries, predominantly to neighbouring Africa, and also further afield. Price is always a concern for neighbouring African countries, but we win a fair amount of regular business in any event.
In terms of opportunities ahead, construction seems set to continue to grow which means many other business environments will also be growing. Also, there are telecommunications prospects. It is interesting to note that Richard Branson's Virgin company will be opening a financial as well as telecommunications business here.
In terms of industry issues, the cost of telecommunications in South Africa needs to be tackled. We really need more competition on that front. Telkom affected our business badly this past year with lost revenue due to service outages and slow recoveries. It is tough for us to see overseas countries enjoying cost-effective 'big bandwidth' while Broadband is still a dream for many here. Locally, Opto Africa uses GPRS data communications to relay data from sites to our hosting facility, while in the UK they simply lay fixed lines. The GPRS works in most cases but fixed line bandwidth really has major advantages - if one can afford it.
About Opto Africa
Opto Africa (www.optoafrica.co.za) began trading in 1997, initially as a project management and systems integration company, and quickly established itself as a leader in remote monitoring and control solutions. It currently specialises in enterprise-wide distributed real-world monitoring and control systems, and embedded Internet Thin webserver technologies and solutions. Opto Africa sees the road ahead as exciting. It is consolidating its experience gained in creating and implementing real-world, realtime monitoring and control solutions and is aiming at emerging as a leader in M2M technology and communications.
For more information contact Opto Africa, +27 (0)11 792 4886, [email protected]
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