Mobile and wireless technologies have completely penetrated the South African corporate sector, with cellphones and laptops enjoying 99% penetration levels in the corporate sector, said World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck.
3G has also come off a very low base of 5% penetration in 2004 and 34% in 2005, leaping to 59% in 2006, he said. 3G is expected have 75% in among corporations in 2007, he said.
The research was based on in-office interviews with a 100 telecoms and IT decision makers from companies listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and major unlisted companies with an employee range of 200-500 and up to 10 000 employees.
He said voice and general messaging applications by cellphone reached total penetration in that group by 2006 and are maintaining that level in 2007. Business applications are on the rise, with the use of the cellphone to access the Internet growing dramatically, he said.
Cellphone for email access grew from nowhere to about 70% level in 2006, he said. Growth is expected to rise to 80% in 2007, he said.
?That is a direct reflection of the impact that email-enabled phones have had on the market,? he said.
The pervasiveness of laptops have also influenced the increased use of WiFi, which was previously seen as insignificant, he said. Access to a cellphone and laptop is however still a reflection of one?s status in the workplace, with 78% of corporations providing cellphones to senior management 55% to mid-management.
Adoption of Voice over Internet Services
Voice over Internet Protocol declined in importance from 2005 to 2006. Goldstuck said the decreased importance is a reflection of the realism over what VoIP can accomplish that?s settling in the market. However, a number of service providers in the South African ICT sector including Storm Telecoms, Verizon Business (SA) and Internet Solutions expect VOIP adoption to pick up now that retail prices have finally been set.
Geographic number portability, whereby consumers/businesses can move their services from fixed line monopoly Telkom without having to change their phone numbers, will also encourage an increased adoption of VoIP services, says Storm business unit manager Kevin Jacobs.
Many corporations have already started looking at VoIP infrastructure and it?s only a matter of time before they begin implementation, says Edwin Thompson, Verizon Business (SA)?s executive of legal and regulatory affairs.
3G/HSDPA vs WiMax?
Goldstuck says the perceived importance of 3G has grown with 73% of respondents rating it as an important emerging technology in 2006 - a giant increase from 22% in 2005. The largest beneficiary of this strong interest in 3G is mobile operator Vodacom, which reported a big increase in its broadband subscribers for the year ending March 2006.
Goldstuck says there is a chance that WiMax could wipe out 3G by 2010, he said. ?Sometimes the importance of a technology becomes apparent after it has been rolled out, as was the case with 3G,? he adds.
Damaria Senne is a journalist and author based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She writes about the telecommunications industry in South Africa and Africa, including cellular, mobile and wireless technologies and messaging news and trends.
Read her business related articles at http://www.itweb.co.za She blogs about parenting/writing at http://damariasenne.blogspot.com
Tags: parent, internet, monopoly, thompson, era
