In 2014, SA will see an ever-increasing penetration of smartphones as, on the supply side, mobile carriers will encourage uptake and consumption of mobile data by subsidising or leasing smartphones with contracts, and affordable low-end smartphones will be introduced by handset manufacturers.
This is one of the predictions of industry body the Wireless Access Providers' Association (WAPA), which has taken a bird's-eye view of the local telecoms market and how it expects it to unfold this year, identifying drivers and context within the global landscape.
The WAPA executive committee, comprising volunteer industry professionals, says consumers will predominantly use smartphones for social media, mapping, Web browsing and communications - but will this year start taking advantage of the new "mobile-first" functionality delivered by the private and public sectors.
"Businesses such as banks, retailers, and even the government will begin to deliver services designed for a mobile platform, such as payments, coupon and loyalty applications and even the payments of council bills and traffic fines via mobile." WAPA says this indicates mobile strategy will become key to certain businesses in SA this year.
Convergence charge
WAPA says while Telkom has long led the convergence charge - offering consumers and businesses bundled services comprising fixed and mobile connectivity - last year saw the telco being joined by Afrihost and MWeb, with the two supplementing their home ADSL services with mobile "MiFi" offers.
MWeb has made public its intention to build a nationwide WiFi network and offer bundled home and public-access connectivity.
WAPA says it expects this trend to continue in 2014 - specifically in the consumer marketplace - as the said entities are joined by other companies, and alliances are formed between incumbent players and upstarts, or smaller, specialist companies.
The body says it has already seen local analysts' predictions that 2014 will be a breakout year for WiFi in SA taking shape internally. "WiFi can form the third leg of a mobile/home/WiFi converged service if and when service providers are able to build open access carrier-grade WiFi networks in high foot traffic locations."
WiFi focus
The recently announced collaboration between WAPA and the Wireless Broadband Alliance, says WAPA, is geared towards providing industry education to enable the building of such networks according to established best practices.
According to Effective Measure's November 2013 demographics report, the percentage of South Africans accessing the Internet over ADSL dropped sharply from 51% to 42%, while the percentage accessing the Internet over WiFi grew from 28% to 34%.
The smartphone proliferation in SA will also fuel the installation of WiFi networks designed to do more than just provide basic connectivity, says WAPA. "In the past, consumers would have to search for relevant local content or check in on the likes of FourSquare to see what offers were available. New software solutions coming onto the market in 2014 will turn this equation on its head, allowing consumers to access local content and offers easily through the use of smartphone location in an intelligent WiFi network."
Value-added services
This is just one example of value-added services delivered over smartphones connected to the Internet, says WAPA.
"From WhatsApp and the big marketing push from Tencent's WeChat this year, software companies will continue to introduce smartphone applications that deliver additional content over a data connection.
"In the residential space, expect to see content in the form of video-on-demand as Telkom is rumoured to be in talks with Netflix, and MWeb will begin pushing content from the Naspers engine to home-Internet users."
WAPA further predicts the good news that SA will this year see ever-dropping broadband prices and faster speeds.
"While WAPA applauds Telkom for continuing to lower IP Connect rates, overall costs will remain quite high until ADSL line rental costs are lowered, which is unlikely to happen in the short term. Since fibre to the home will remain an expensive proposition, high-quality and high-speed connections delivered by wireless Internet service providers will remain competitive.
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