{"id":41369,"date":"2013-07-13T21:23:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T19:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=41369"},"modified":"2013-07-15T09:13:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-15T07:13:00","slug":"how-sa-operators-can-save-27-in-infrastructure-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/41369\/how-sa-operators-can-save-27-in-infrastructure-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"How SA operators can save 27% in infrastructure costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cisco<\/a> says that a data offload to WiFi will provide the viable, most cost effective alternative for mobile operators in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The technology group says\u00a0mobile operators in South Africa can reduce HSPA and LTE infrastructure costs by roughly 27% or USD $972 million.<\/p>\n

The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2012-2017) projects that South Africa\u2019s Internet protocol (IP) traffic will quadruple between 2012 and 2017 at a compound annual growth rate of 31%.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s IP traffic (fixed and mobile) is expected to reach an annual run rate of 6.1 exabytes \u2015 almost 6.55 billion gigabytes per year \u2013 by 2017.<\/p>\n

According to CCS studies, this growth threatens to overload the capacity of regional mobile operators, who may be struggling to ensure availability of high-speed packet access (HSPA) and LTE spectrum.<\/p>\n

“WiFi could hold the solution, transforming wireless Internet access by offering higher speeds, improved security, and more availability on almost any connected device,” it said.<\/p>\n

Cisco Consulting Services calculated the cost reductions operators can expect between 2013 and 2017 under four offloading schemes. It demonstrated significantly greater savings as the percentage of mobile data offload increased.<\/p>\n

This model, Cisco says, can help mobile operators in South Africa reduce HSPA and LTE infrastructure costs by roughly 27% or USD $972 million.<\/p>\n

Cisco cautions, however, that offloading data traffic to WiFi requires significant investment.<\/p>\n

Based on its analysis, Cisco Consulting Services determined that South African mobile operators would have to invest $108 million between 2013 and 2017 to provide WiFi coverage to 564 buildings with total indoor space of 2.4 square kilometres and total outdoor space of 25.5 square kilometres.<\/p>\n

Of this, $108 million investment, 20% would be allocated to Capex and 80% to opex. “Costs will be lower if mobile data traffic offload rates are reduced,” Cisco said.<\/p>\n

Mobile Data Offload will have an impact on the following:<\/p>\n