Telkom`s Managing Executive of Technology and Network Services, Reuben September, this week advised delegates at the ITU Telecom Africa 2001 forum on e-Technology Infrastructure to take an evolutionary approach to developing so-called Next-Generation Networks (NGNs), although market forces and technology advances enabled the use of revolutionary concepts to drive this evolution.
September said that throughout the world the telecommunications industry was taking stock after the meltdown of the dot-coms.
"One great lesson learnt is that you don`t build your business on hype, but on real demand and proven solutions. The industry has also learnt that the long-term growth and the profitability of the telecommunications sector will be driven largely by broadband, intelligent, value-added and vertical services," he said.
September emphasised that there was increasing global consensus that for incumbent telecommunications operators, it was not a question of building a NGN by simply replacing what they already had. "Instead, it is about evolving networks from their current position to continually meet customer and business information and communication needs," he said.
He said that a profile for a sustainable solution should include the ability to be very responsive, and to meet growth demands through a bandwidth-rich network capacity capable of supporting "any service, any time, anywhere".
September said that for African network operators to succeed and grow, they would need to seek sustainable solutions that required low investment and reduced operating costs - a major challenge. Such networks would include IP technologies, voice compression techniques, simplified end-to-end service delivery and centralised control and network management achievable by migrating to a single converged network.
Drawing on Telkom`s experience, September explained that the company was maximising its existing infrastructure while at the same time adding new functionality to support customer requirements. During its NGN tender process, which Telkom termed the Packet Mode Architecture (PMA) tender, the company had continuously evaluated what was on offer from the vendor community, profiled these against the benchmarking of international operators and developed its network planning accordingly.
"Telkom has short-listed various suppliers and is currently involved in contractual and supply negotiations," he said.
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