Programme director
The chairperson of the conference
The Minister of Information Communications and Technology of the Kingdom of Swaziland, the honourable Pastor Nelisiwe Shongwe
Chief executive officers and captains of industry
Members of the royal family
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Today, the communications industry finds itself at the confluence of different forces and different technologies, which are coming together with powerful implications for the way we communicate, transmit information and interact. As new technologies and platforms steadily erode the boundaries between types of infrastructure and applications, convergence is arguably the most powerful driving force transforming today’s information communications technology (ICT) landscape.
Considering the different types of convergence, voice and data, telecoms and entertainment, fixed and mobile or the combination of all these as quadruple play, the nature of this change in focus is certainly evident when compared to the traditional telecoms operator’s way of providing services.
Traditionally consumers would purchase different services from different services providers and see them as isolated from each other; however with the emergence of convergence in the market this is no longer the case. Consumers are placing more and more pressure on service providers to provide a basket of services that are integrated, affordable and most importantly mobile and ubiquitous. Convergence suddenly seems omnipresent, with converged devices, converged applications, and converged networks.
The impact of this change is widespread as convergence cuts across multiple industries including the fixed and mobile telecoms, mobile and broadcasting, the internet service providers (ISP) and the media, entertainment and broadcasting.
All advances, however, convergence has brought with it many new challenges, from standardisation issues to internet governance and policy making, to one of the biggest problems we face today, Cyber security.
The rise of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) gave us a sneak preview of convergence approaching the market, but it is safe to say that the first VoIP service providers could never have predicted the direction, impact and reach of convergence. Globally convergence is spreading to telecoms and broadcasting services and the quest for triple play services including voice, data and video services is increasing, thus encouraging telecom operators to migrate their traffic onto data or internet protocol (IP) based platforms.
But the age old phenomenon of demand is also evident in the expansion of convergence triple play; voice, video and data, is turning into quadruple play; voice, video, data and mobility. It is no longer sufficient to have triple play fixed services as customers are demanding all this and mobility too. The need today is for everything over IP, to go.
It is becoming more and more evident globally that convergence is driven equally by the customer and the technology. While the advantages of new technologies are mostly not evident to the consumer from the onset, some of the customer benefits of convergence are obvious. Who cannot see the advantage in having one service provider and one monthly account to pay, not to mention a single point of contact for support and maintenance? Who does not dream about a single device connecting to mobile and fixed networks supporting triple play services – of course with infinite battery life.
While many arguments for and against the future of convergence can be made from the perspective of the current market players and technology providers, when considering convergence from the perspective of the gadget hungry, convenience craving consumer, it is clear that convergence is here to stay. Globally the ICT industry has seen a lot of consolidation in its recent history, not only amongst the giants in the operating space but also amongst the leading equipment vendors.
In hindsight some of the more unexpected mergers and acquisitions make much more sense when viewed through the convergence filter, as telecoms and broadcasting sectors are moving closer to each other. While convergence may be bringing consolidation to the market, it may also add a clear division in the ICT space between network operators and service providers. Global trends indicate that many players are reviewing their history and turning their focus to either capturing and retaining the customer or owning the infrastructure. But to many of the traditional players in the market, convergence is necessitating a complete redesign of their tried and trusted business models.
The guaranteed profit of providing telecommunication services, advertising time and content is diminishing before our eyes. Together with the reassessment of the business model, it is evident that this new way of doing things will also have a vast impact on the processes and the operation and business support systems (OSS and BSS) of the service providers and networks operators.
Convergence may not be a disruptive technology, but it certainly provides an opportunity for the development of new and innovative solutions and services.
The emergence of unique services on the mobile platforms in many African countries is clear evidence that the African combination of first and third world development is an ideal breeding ground for innovation. These services should encourage our students and researchers to continue their work with renewed effort, as it is the combination of their technical expertise and their intimate knowledge of our telecoms environment that will lead to their success.
Convergence in our market will create the same opportunities for development and innovation that the mobile industry has brought to the African continent.
In some instances our lack of infrastructure will be to our advantage as the complication of adapting legacy technologies to the converged environment can be avoided all together, and roll out of infrastructure to these areas can be done directly on IP networks, thereby leapfrogging underserved areas.
Convergence provides us with the opportunity to promote digital inclusion and to build the information society. We can reach out to rural areas on consolidated networks, thereby saving cost and increasing the financial viability of service in remote areas. We can reverse the skills gap by introducing our rural areas to mobile and voice over internet protocol.
The convergence of integrated voice, video, data and entertainment has already resulted in the introduction of new services such as social networks services which we never even dreamt of a few years ago. One thing is certain, services of the future, only two to three years from now, have not even been invented yet.
Let me share with you some of the initiatives of the South African government that are of some relevance to convergence.
Having spoken about triple play and even quadruple play services, it is evident that these are not the types of services that can be provided on narrowband technologies. The current ‘broadband divide’ is challenging and will normally necessitate public intervention; and that such public intervention should not return to the old monopoly regime of telephony but will likely take the form of bold, innovative, and pragmatic set of measures aimed at encouraging investment and spending public money when appropriate and strictly needed.
South Africa recognises the need to bridge the broadband divide, and the expansion of true broadband services as an enabler of converged services to all citizens. As such we will shortly be finalising a national broadband policy, which will state the objectives of government.
Broadband access requires high capacity national and regional backbones and international connectivity that are lacking in many developing countries; that is why we recognise and encourage the different initiatives that will ensure that the African continent has access to more national to regional fibre optic backbone and submarine cables We also recognise the achievement of the private sector in providing broadband services to date and acknowledge the enormity of the task of expanding these networks to bridge the digital divide.
It is an area that cannot be conquered by public or private sector separately but calls for close co-operation between all stakeholders. Conversely, if access over broadband networks, fixed or mobile, is driving convergence, then the massive investments in some cases, threaten to open up a new digital divide delineated in terms of speed and bandwidth, rather than just basic penetration rates.
Convergence, in this sense, is a double edged sword. The question then, is how in the provision of broadband, we do not open a new digital divide.
Many of the access technologies used in converged telecoms networks are radio based and also here the department has a role to play. The management of radio frequency spectrum is a matter of national interest and as such the department is the custodian of this scarce resource. South Africa is finalising the national radio frequency spectrum policy that will provide guidelines on the effective and efficient utilization of radio frequency spectrum in the national interest.
As an example, the impact of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) on the South African telecoms environment will add another dimension of convergence to our industry. Communication will be an essential component in the global integration of the astrophysics and digital signal processing industries. International digital research will be stimulated with South Africa at the heart of the project. This will provide further opportunities in post graduate research in South Africa and will lead to economic growth.
The SKA will also require the development of innovative non-radio based communication technologies to be used in close proximity to the SKA site.
In this rapidly changing environment the work of standardization institutes provides invaluable guidelines for the development of the relevant standards. The International Telecommunication Union has given first stage approval (consent) to two new standards on fixed mobile convergence (FMC). Operators offering FMC will be able to provide both services with a single phone, switching between networks on an ad hoc basis.
The implications for regulation are just as significant. In a converged environment, do regulatory principles for telecommunications still apply to the largely unregulated world of the internet? Should telecommunication regulatory authorities be converged with broadcasting regulators, just as the industry is doing? What about the regulations of the Internet?
Some countries have already converged whereas others are still debating the issue. In South Africa, we have already converged the telecommunications and broadcasting regulator. Other countries have included the information technology in the regulatory framework. Appropriate, regulatory regimes should be forward looking and regularly reassessed, in order to ensure that they keep pace with the rapid evolution of technological change.
ICT has led to the reduction of time and space in daily activities, resulting in greater effectiveness and efficiency in the use of resources. Endless opportunities flowing from the adoption and use of the ICTs, and covering the entire socio-economic and political spectrum, have emerged to resolve some of the most trying development challenges. Whilst acknowledging the positive role of ICTs in every aspect of our lives, it is this very reliance on ICTs that has necessitated the need to ensure that it is secure.
The impact of not addressing the cyber security would spell death to the information economy. The consequence of this to the developmental agenda would be catastrophic. The road towards convergence is clearly not a single step but a journey, and it is along this journey that there are multiple opportunities for innovation and development. The successful completion of this journey cannot be achieved by industry, academia or government on its own, but is a clear call for expanded cooperation. It is our joint responsibility to the citizens to ensure that convergence will achieve the much required economic and socio-economic growth throughout our continent.
Development of rural areas is of paramount importance to the government and the use of converged ICT technologies in these areas will be an essential enabler towards economic growth and empowerment. As government, we encourage operators to develop next generation network infrastructures that are inter-operable, conform to open standards and offer access to high quality and secure services and an improved end user experience; but more important, leapfrog provision of services into rural areas.
If people in developing countries can afford a 3 gigabyte internet enabled mobile phone, they may no longer need to afford the much higher cost of a computer. Based on International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) international mobile telecommunication (IMT) standards, a mobile can enable access to the internet and partially substitute for much more expensive forms of wire line internet access. All the time mobiles have been perceived as substituting for fixed line access, traditional telecom operators saw first mobile, and now VoIP, as both a threat and an opportunity, depending on their ability to access mobile licenses and their involvement and investments in mobile subsidiaries. Now that fixed-mobile convergence is becoming the norm, however, the boundaries between these separate industries are being erased.
Yes, traditional telecom operators are upgrading their core networks to IP, and many incumbent operators are investing in both wired and wireless technologies to upgrade their broadband access networks, particularly for rural areas where fibre networks are not commercially viable. Telecom operators may also have to invest in content, through alliances with content providers to enhance their standing in a new converged industry.
It will no longer be sufficient just to run the pipes over which content is carried; telecom providers will have to develop new business models based around content. The boundaries between old and new, fixed and mobile, voice and data, are increasingly blurred, and increasingly irrelevant.
May we together succeed in climbing the mountain of convergence and overcoming the technical and business complexities on our way. It is my hope that the outcomes of this conference will assist us along the way.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Communications
31 August 2009
Source: Department of Communications (https://www.doc.gov.za/)
