What Seacom means for South Africa, the telecoms industry and co.za domain space
Consumers are expecting huge decreases in broadband costs, much faster connection speeds and a surge in competition but all is not as it seems.
Seacom will certainly deliver faster internet speeds to foreign hosted sites and a cost reduction but the level at which the consumer will experience it will not be as impressive as the numbers being bandied about. The connection speeds between South Africa and continental Europe will increase substantially so if you are sending data a colleague in Germany for example, both the cost and speed of this transfer will be dramatically better.
Some service providers are taking a fairly maverick approach to increase market share and have reduced prices by as much as one quarter as in the case of Wireless G. Over the next 12 months it is expected that pricing will be halved in as much as you should receive double your cap for the same monthly subscription. This is one area where South Africa and Africa as a whole are way behind the rest of the world where data caps are seldom imposed.
Seacom will arguably have its biggest impact in the telecoms market in the short term by making intercontinental calling via the internet a viable reality. South African businesses have been overcharged for International calling for many years and the prospect of reducing International calling costs by more than half has seen Samsung telecoms launching a VOIP product in South Africa that will not only reduce calling costs but will bring video conferencing to the fore in many South African businesses operating Internationally. The costs saving advantages of high definition video conferencing are many, not least of which is the ability to hold virtual face to face meetings without the need to travel. This benefit is particularly interesting in a world where carbon emissions and mandatory carbon reporting is making business sit up and take responsibility for their effect on the environment.
For more information on the Samsung range of VOIP solutions please contact ITEC Corprporate Solutions
For the co.za domain space, Seacom will have a very positive impact. There are currently many businesses not making active use of the internet as part of their business strategy and as access to the Internet becomes more prolific throughout Africa, the demand for good domain names will certainly increase. I have written about the proven value of solid generic keyword domain names before and have little doubt that the value and traffic to these domains will be significantly impacted in the very near future.