All of us have been and are still affected by the ongoing financial crises in a multitude different ways, but South Africa is feeling the strain in quite a unique way - and finding the answer in an equally unpredictable solution.
The telephone lines are highly sought by thieves thanks to their copper wires, which are sold to overseas bidders - costing the country's major fixed line telephone operator 'Telkom' an average of 20 million rand per month.
Telekom - South Africa's largest telecoms supplier - estimate that the damage and disruptions caused by the thefts are costing them in excess of twenty million rand per month, as well as costing affected businesses in lost trade and profits.
But Telecoms loss is Voip's gain, and many service providers are gaining handsomely from offering increased technology and safeguards against the risk of downtime caused by disruption to the phone line network - something that standard phone line operators are struggling to compete with.
One of the services offered by a company called BitCo involves relaying the digital signal from a number of high points such as roofs and towers which serve to act as a relay station and transmit the signal to the appropriate homes. This is known as 'invisible lines'.
Kobas Mathee, technical director of BitCo insists that a network such as this based on Ethernet standards is becoming the industry standard: 'There is a lot of intelligence built into our network With this we can guarantee uptime and services and thus offer an alternative to traditional landlines, which are often prone to quality problems and prolonged downtime due to cable breakages or theft'.
So the truth of the moment is that, for the forseeable future at least, the theft of copper wire is going to continue and the risk to businesses affected by constant downtime is going to grow and encroach on their ability to survivie until they are forced, as so many other have been already, to search out an alternative.
But regardless of whether you are being forced to embrace Voip as those in South Africa are, or you just want to take advantage of the benefits offered by this system-of-the-future, be sure that you do your homework and choose a reputable provider who will not put your business at risk through unnecessary downtime.
The telephone lines are highly sought by thieves thanks to their copper wires, which are sold to overseas bidders - costing the country's major fixed line telephone operator 'Telkom' an average of 20 million rand per month.
Telekom - South Africa's largest telecoms supplier - estimate that the damage and disruptions caused by the thefts are costing them in excess of twenty million rand per month, as well as costing affected businesses in lost trade and profits.
But Telecoms loss is Voip's gain, and many service providers are gaining handsomely from offering increased technology and safeguards against the risk of downtime caused by disruption to the phone line network - something that standard phone line operators are struggling to compete with.
One of the services offered by a company called BitCo involves relaying the digital signal from a number of high points such as roofs and towers which serve to act as a relay station and transmit the signal to the appropriate homes. This is known as 'invisible lines'.
Kobas Mathee, technical director of BitCo insists that a network such as this based on Ethernet standards is becoming the industry standard: 'There is a lot of intelligence built into our network With this we can guarantee uptime and services and thus offer an alternative to traditional landlines, which are often prone to quality problems and prolonged downtime due to cable breakages or theft'.
So the truth of the moment is that, for the forseeable future at least, the theft of copper wire is going to continue and the risk to businesses affected by constant downtime is going to grow and encroach on their ability to survivie until they are forced, as so many other have been already, to search out an alternative.
But regardless of whether you are being forced to embrace Voip as those in South Africa are, or you just want to take advantage of the benefits offered by this system-of-the-future, be sure that you do your homework and choose a reputable provider who will not put your business at risk through unnecessary downtime.
About the Author:
Saul Saresi writes regularly about Voip systems and technology for his website which can be found here internet telephony further information about Voip technology can be found here business voip system
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