Allied Technologies' Technology Concepts (Altech TC) is evaluating the possibility of rolling out its own infrastructure, making use of its parent company's hard won ECNS licence.
Altech TC CEO Wayne de Nobrega says SA's national capacity has been held by a single business for so long that it has become restrictive and expensive. "For example, it is quite possibly more expensive for an ISP to buy a line from Cape Town to Johannesburg than it is to buy a link from SA to London," he says.
The company has big plans to package deals for the SME market and later for the consumer, making capacity a necessity, adds De Nobrega.
While De Nobrega will not say whether it will lay fibre or roll-out a wireless solution, he notes: "We are evaluating the infrastructure space and will make the relevant decisions for Altech."
At the beginning of April, Altech bought TC, alongside an 11% purchase of The East African Marine System (Teams). The company also has extensive infrastructure in East Africa, making it one of the primary wholesalers for ISPs in the region.
According to De Nobrega, the next two years will be key for the local telecommunications and broadband space. "There will be more changes in telecoms and broadband in the next two years than there has been in the last 10 years. The landscape is ripe for change."
While he admits the national capacity situation is already beginning its transformation, with MTN, Neotel and Vodacom's national fibre project on the go, he says it will take some time to feel the real effects of the implementation. "Metro fibre is spreading its web to the community, but it is happening slower than most people hoped for."
Taking action
While local capacity is on the up, there needs to be some intervention that could boost the ISP business, believes Altech TC.
De Nobrega points to the allocation of spectrum as the first intervention. The company hopes to see the Independent Communications Authority of SA allocate the available spectrum for solutions like WiMax. "We are sure this will happen within two years. They can't go longer than that; the pressure will come from the industry," explains De Nobrega.
Like many other local ISPs, Altech TC is also concerned about the licensing of Infraco. The company hopes government will define it as a wholesaler and not another telecoms or Internet competitor. The concern is that government intends to create another Telkom, which has dominated the voice market since its inception.
Altech TC is also working towards the two-year time frame to become a serious competitor in the local ISP market, hoping to leverage Altech's million customers and its in-house-developed technologies.
The company already services the SME market with its Channel Bonding technology, which combines several ADSL lines, providing higher bandwidth, and speeding up the broadband solution.
Alongside other new entrants into the market, like Neotel, Altech TC is in a strong position. Neither company has to deal with legacy infrastructure, so both can build their offerings from scratch, which could keep them ahead of the market.
However, De Nobrega says the biggest distinction will lie in offering content alongside the regular provision of Internet. "It's not good enough anymore just to provide a phone, or the Internet. We will have to start providing the whole package: video on demand, VOIP and so on."
He adds that the company is in discussions with possible international and local content partners. According to De Nobrega, international and local capacity needs to be in place for this to happen. "Seacom and other cables will be a catalyst to the change we expect over the next two years."
Altech's 11% ownership in Teams makes its connectivity in East Africa particularly strong. It is also one of the few known customers on the Seacom cable, expected to go live any day now. Where the capacity is not in place locally, Altech TC has the right to put it in.
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