Expansion into Africa is high on the list of opportunities for many South African companies but it is not without its challenges. The largest obstacle is the lack of public infrastructure from inadequate roads and unreliable electricity supply to low teledensity. The result is that the costs of operating in Africa are often significantly higher than in the rest of the world.
Addressing the technology needs of an organisation that is expanding into Africa can be very challenging and there are a number of environmental influences to take into account. First is the impact of the low teledensity levels in Africa. Less than one person in 100 has access to a phone and this has resulted in an exponential uptake of mobile phone usage on the continent with the International Telecommunications Union expecting the number of mobile subscribers to outstrip total fixed connections by the end of 2003 and exceed 100 million by 2005.
Another consequence of the rudimentary fixed-line framework is that reliable Internet connectivity is most regularly sourced via expensive connectivity solutions such as satellite. "All of these communication challenges add up to one thing - a really big bill at the end of the month!" says Tim Wyatt Gunning, director of voice and data solutions provider, storm.
To assist businesses counteract these costs, many local and international companies are offering solutions tailored to meet the needs of organisations that are expanding into Africa. "No business needs to feel that their expansion into Africa is a journey they need to undertake alone. One way that companies can control the costs is through effective partnerships," says Wyatt Gunning.
This is particularly true when is comes to telecommunications. "Phoning Africa is expensive. It is even more expensive to phone a mobile phone than a fixed line and the fact that there are so many more cell phones in Africa will naturally raise the cost of communications for companies. If one considers that the head office, most likely to be based in South Africa, will carry the bulk of the communications costs it is vital to deploy technology solutions that will assist in controlling costs," says Wyatt Gunning.
storm has a voice solution, which can reduce international calling costs by between 10 and 40 percent. Presently, storm is able to offer these savings into all Southern African countries as well as Nigeria, Ghana and Camaroon. "With Africa being a significant focus for many of or current clients we are looking to set up structures to ensure that we can offer this service into other African countries," concludes Wyatt Gunning.
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