The cost of telecommunications in SA is a sore point. It is a sore point for companies who deal with overseas clients, a sore point with people who have friends and family overseas, and a sore point for the many South Africans who simply cannot afford to communicate.
Government has repeatedly raised this issue. In various communications with the public, several ministers, and president Thabo Mbeki, have said the cost of telecommunications is hampering growth, and cutting rural people out of the economic fold.
This is one of the reasons government is sponsoring Sentech's R1 billion wireless roll-out to rural areas. This is why operators are receiving licences to supply under-serviced areas with telecommunications. And it's perhaps a contributing factor in SA's alleged telecoms liberalisation, which has been in effect since February last year.
Despite movement towards making telecoms - and business - cheaper, SA still lags first world countries in this regard. Consumers are more than eager for anything that presents a cheaper alternative, which is why we were all very excited when it was announced that there would be a second national operator.
However, in our quest for cheaper calls, we need to bear in mind that there really is no such thing as a free lunch. We should bear in mind that things, which, on the surface, appear to be solutions, may not be cheaper telecommunications.
Comparing costs
A robust debate on the relative merits of any telecommunications solution in SA is just what we need as the country moves towards - hopefully - a liberalised sector.
Nicola Mawson, ITWeb Senior Journalist
This is where Skype enters the picture. Hellkom has drawn up a table comparing costs between Skype and Telkom, and there is a saving every time. These prices do not take into account free Skype calling from PC-to-PC. It's being hailed as the next best thing to sliced bread.
But, Skype is not actually a telecommunications tool - it is a can of worms. Take my recent article on concerns a Gartner analyst had about the software, for example. Comments on the article resulted in a deluge of responses. All in favour of Skype, all anti Gartner, and all anti lil'ol me.
Good - a robust debate on the relative merits of any telecommunications solution in SA is just what we need as the country moves towards - hopefully - a liberalised sector.
It's funny, but as I sat on my uncomfy hotel bed at gone 10 at night, I pondered the relative merits of writing that article. So I did the best thing under the circumstances. I phoned a friend who was also behind his keyboard and bounced the concept off him.
The net result was that - while I would never get a three-dimensional story out that night - the relative downside of not informing readers that Gartner was concerned about security and bandwidth did not beat the upside of not running the story.
Maybe there is a lesson is all of this. Whatever comes along, don't just download, install and use. Check out the relative merits first.
Related story:
You do not want Skype
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