Author: Paul Colmer

The Association of Comms and Technology (ACT) wants a five-year exemption from parts of the Competition Act so that six of South Africa’s largest network operators can coordinate parts of their rural infrastructure rollout. The pitch is simple – stop duplicating infrastructure, lower the cost of deployment and reach places that remain underserved. I won’t mince my words: this is a very bad idea. Nobody can argue with the need. Rural connectivity is expensive. Roads are poor, power is unreliable, backhaul is difficult and there may be very few paying customers around a site. Those constraints are real. But a…

South Africa has spent years treating fibre as the broadband finish line and wireless as a temporary arrangement until the trench reaches the gate. That hierarchy is now out of date. Modern fixed wireless can now deliver the speed, capacity and reliability to be the first choice rather than the consolation prize, and newly released spectrum will only sharpen that case further. In the right circumstances, wireless can match or even outperform fibre and reach customers whom fibre may never serve economically. Don’t get me wrong, fibre remains an excellent technology. Where customers are packed together and ducts, poles or…

Imagine this: your WiFi router knows when you’ve fallen down the stairs, whether you’re having trouble breathing, and exactly how many times you’ve visited the loo today.  It can also detect when your teenager is sneaking out at night and monitor your elderly parent’s daily routine from across the country. Most unsettling of all, it can do this through walls, in complete darkness, and without your knowledge. Welcome to WiFi sensing – a technology that’s about to transform every wireless device in your home into a sophisticated surveillance system.  From communication to surveillance Twenty-five years ago, Steve Jobs waved an…

It’s time to tell your kids to become plumbers – because while AI might not be coming for their pipes, it’s certainly coming for almost everything else. We’ve all heard the famous parable of the chessboard: start with one grain of rice, double it on each square, and by the time you reach the halfway point, you’ve got 43 tons of rice. But it’s the second half of the chessboard where things get truly mind-bending. We’re not just talking about rice anymore – we’re talking about artificial intelligence, and folks, we’ve just entered that exponential second half. The Nvidia rocket…

Much ink has been spilled over the so-called “digital divide,” “connecting the unconnected,” and “digital exclusion.” But have we ever paused to ponder where these buzzwords originate?  It seems our beloved mobile network operators (MNOs) have coined these terms, perhaps to spook governments and society into favouring their services – all while maintaining prepaid pricing models that could make a billionaire blush. Ironically, this “exclusion” stems not from a lack of infrastructure but from these operators’ sky-high pricing structures.  According to data from ICASA, South Africa boasts 100% 2G coverage, 99% 3G coverage, and 98.5% LTE/4G coverage. If these figures…

WiFi technology is on the brink of a revolutionary transformation, and 2025 will likely be remembered as the year when “WiFi Everywhere” became a reality.  With new advancements and standards, WiFi is poised to redefine connectivity, create unprecedented opportunities, and enable innovative applications that go far beyond fast internet access.  The latency factor: speed redefined Since ICASA opened the lower 6 GHz WiFi band for indoor use and we continue to lobby for standard power outdoor use following global trends,  WiFi’s potential has skyrocketed. However, the key innovation isn’t just about GHz speed, it’s about latency. By significantly reducing latency, WiFi can…

Ever since the news broke last week that Vodacom, South Africa’s largest cellular network operator, had its bid to buy fibre network operator Maziv blocked by the Competition Commission, we’ve been inundated by sob-stories of how this “setback” will “widen digital exclusion” in the country’s rural and underserviced areas. To be direct: digital exclusion isn’t an issue in rural areas. Some of these communities are well served by smaller wireless data operators – it’s just that the large cellular providers with extensive coverage and with high pricing models aren’t one of them, and have created that exclusion. WAPA (the Wireless Access Providers Association)…

The South African telecommunications industry is currently in a state of flux. On the one hand, 5G network rollouts are gathering pace, with the latest news that Nokia has won a major deal to expand MTN’s 5G network to more than 2,800 additional sites around the country. On the other hand, there seems to be no end in sight to the country’s power crisis, with storm clouds gathering around the key stakeholders following the explosive allegations levelled at Eskom and the governing ANC by ousted CEO Andre De Ruyter. While 5G promises to bring many benefits to consumers, including faster…