SS Telecoms right-sizes to address market shift

Specialist telephony company SS Telecoms is reducing its production staff contingent by 20%. The reduction comes as a result of the downturn in the least cost routing (LCR) market, following the legislated lowering of interconnect rates by South Africa's mobile phone operators.

“LCR activity volumes have dropped significantly across the industry since interconnect rates were forced down,” says George Smalberger, SS telecoms MD.

“This is a macro level event that has had a significant impact on the telecoms market as a whole. SS Telecoms' right-sizing is a structural response more than anything else - we obviously have to ensure that the size and scope of our LCR production team is aligned with market demand.

“It's a hard exercise to have to go through for everyone - it's very difficult when markets are hit by these kinds of changes,” adds Smalberger. “We've put a lot of effort into ensuring that staff impacted by the right-sizing have been treated equitably and have been exposed wherever possible to new career opportunities within the sector.”

The SS Telecoms business remains well positioned in the market, and is expanding into new growth areas. The company recently launched the leading Media 5 range of VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) products, and has also signed a distribution deal with global telephony heavyweight Aastra.

“The design and manufacture of our traditional product range, which includes Buffers, Music on Hold, Analogue, BRI, PRI to GSM Scanners, other routing solutions, SIM servers and IP PBX solutions, among others, remains the core of the business,” says Smalberger. “In addition, we're introducing new products such as the Media 5 VOIP gateways and Aastra SIP solutions. In general, we're happy with our market position and our lean structure, which is geared towards sustainable organic growth. We've looked carefully at the market over the last six months and there are clear opportunities in segments such as VOIP, where skill and experience levels remain quite low. Our new structure will allow us to take advantage of these opportunities as they arise, while maximising the strength of our core product set.”