In Africa, the robust Internet networks and affordable connectivity costs have contributed to the Internet's dominance as the preferred mode of communication. The same revolution has been witnessed in the mobile phone sector where communication by mobile phone is increasingly being done over the Internet, leading to the boom of so called smartphones.
MTN Business, one of the leading mobile providers in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, has long been rumoured to have prospects for Kenya's voice market. MTN, however, came into the market not as a mobile operator, but as a data solutions provider through the acquisition of UUNET. The acquisition was in 2010 and saw the rebranding of UUNET to MTN Business in late October 2010.
The acquisition deal soon proved to be a deal changer as in August this year, MTN announced that it would be offering voice solutions to corporates over data networks.
Tom Omariba, MTN Business Kenya Managing Director, says that the new voice over Internet service provides more value than the traditional telephone line. The fully-fledged private branch exchange (PBX) has joined the increasing number of products that are now available from the cloud. For small and medium enterprises (SMEs), this means that they no longer have to tie up capital investing in a communications solution.

An Internet Protocol (IP) PBX can be acquired for use in an office with no additional hardware requirements, other than the IP handsets that the office will utilise. "As voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) matures, the (traditional) hardware PBX has become increasingly irrelevant," says Omariba. "All of its functions can be replaced by software, while a range of additional functionality can be introduced."

Other features that an IP PBX provides compared to hardware PBX includes integration with other devices such as a mobile phone and a user's computer. This means an incoming office call can be picked up from a range of devices from the user's handsets to their PC and their mobile phones.

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is an industry standard that brings even more functionality to ordinary communications. MTN Business has integrated SIP capabilities into their PBXs which, when coupled with mobile phone applications, allows a user to receive office calls when physically out of the office as if they were seated at their desk. All that is needed is adequate data connectivity, either via WiFi or a 3G network.

A person who has travelled abroad may find it cheaper to purchase local lines and communicate to their home countries by routing the calls via SIP to their office PBX. The person they are communicating with at home will see the caller's ID as that of their ordinary office number.

Why converge communications?

"The essence of converged communications is that it integrates in a seamless manner from anywhere on any device," says Bola Adegbonmie, Collaboration Business Consultant for Cisco based in Lagos. Bola discusses converged communications through a virtual meeting between Cisco's Nairobi and Lagos offices made possible by telepresence technology. Telepresence couples hi-definition point-to-point or point-to-multi-point video and audio conferencing.

In addition to Cisco telepresence, staff can join in virtual meetings through their mobile phones enabled by Cisco's Webex technology. Webex also allows files and presentations to be shared and accessed from mobile phones.

Bola says that Cisco approaches Unified Communication (UC) from a network perspective, with a focus on the transport layer. This includes how traffic is carried, communication devices and presentation of the data to the end user.

"70 % of communication is voice," says Bola. For Cisco, their focus is not bringing voice and video together, but bringing multiplicity of platform that will enable users to communicate. This will end up being convenient to the end user, such as when an employee can transfer a conference call from their home device to their mobile device and even to their office device.

"For communication to be unified, it needs to be mobile, socially interactive, visually interactive and in a virtual platform," says Bola. The virtual nature of communication is a global trend that has caught up in East Africa. The downside of such collaborative platforms though is that they do not take kindly to delays, requiring a fast connection all the time.

Joseph Kairigo, Managing Director at Dimension Data East Africa, says UC seeks to explore and integrate all forms of communication, which could include unified messaging, instant messaging, video and even mobility. The aim is to provide a wholesome and all-round experience.

Kairigo says UC allows real-time communication capabilities. "A reply is expected almost immediately by customers, clients, partners and other employees. Not responding quickly could result in missing an important business opportunity or cultivating a perception that a person is unresponsive. Time is money. Adopting and implementing these IT solutions, especially those that adopt unified communications, will drive growth of the economy," he says.

The complete story has been published in the September 2011 issue of CIO East Africa Magazine.