Networking Africa: a case for VoIP

Abstract

Penetration of telecommunication services in Africa is generally quite low outside major cities. The reason for this is the use of technologies that do not scale well in terms of capacity versus coverage in low tele-density traffic areas. The advent of IP-based networking for voice and data services promises to provide cost-effective solution to the tele-density problem because it addresses the decentralisation of the access and switching levels of the network that are reportedly the most costly part of any national network. We propose a network topology to support Africa-wide VoIP networking by the interconnection of segmented area-wide networks. It is shown that using an IP-based access network and provisioning based on teletraffic area-wide network demarcations, we can achieve a network solution to support different services and address the needs of the different market segments in low-density traffic areas.