3G

3G or 3rd Generation is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunications services. Each generation is characterised by new frequency bands, higher data rates and non-backwards compatible transmission technology. 4G systems are expected to appear in the next year or two (pre-4G systems like LTE and mobile WiMAX have already appeared), and fifth generation systems after 2020.

ACE

The ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) submarine communications cable is a planned cable system along the west coast of Africa between France and South Africa. The ACE submarine cable system is to be more than 14,000 km long, and to become operational in 2011 with a minimum capacity of 1.92 Tbit/s.

ADSL

Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line. ADSL is a form of DSL, a data
communications technology, that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional modem can provide.

ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode. ATM is a cell relay network protocol which encodes data traffic into small fixed-sized (53 byte; 48 bytes of data and 5 bytes of header information) cells instead of variable sized packets (sometimes known as frames) as in packet-switched networks (such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet). It is a connection-oriented technology, in which a connection is established between the two endpoints before the actual data exchange begins.

Broadband

Broadband in telecommunications is a term, which refers to a signalling method which includes or handles a relatively wide range of frequencies which may be divided into channels or frequency bins. Broadband is always a relative term, understood according to its context. The wider the bandwidth, the more information can be carried. In data communications a modem will transmit a bandwidth of 64 kilobits per seconds (kbit/s) over a telephone line; over the same telephone line a bandwidth of several megabits per second can be handled by ADSL, which is described as broadband (relative to a modem over a telephone line, although much less than can be achieved over a fibre optic circuit, for example).

Carrier Pre-Select

Carrier pre-select is the process whereby a telephone subscriber whose telephone line is maintained by one company, usually a former monopoly provider, can choose to have some of their calls automatically routed across a different telephone company's network without needing to enter a special code or special equipment.

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access. A protocol for wireless data and voice communication, CMDA is widely used in cellphone networks, but also in many other data communications systems.

Circuit-Switched

In telecommunications, a circuit switching network is one that establishes a dedicated circuit (or channel) between nodes and terminals before the users may communicate. Each circuit that is dedicated cannot be used by other callers until the circuit is released and a new connection is set up. Even if no actual communication is taking place in a dedicated circuit then, that channel still remains unavailable to other users. Channels that are available for new calls to be set up are said to be idle.

Cristal Vox™

Cristal Vox™ is a corporate voice solution from Vox Telecom. Cristal Vox™ offers a range of outbound and inbound voice services at competitive rates, bundled with a geographic number (e.g. 010, 021 and 031) and a unique rebate structure.

CTR

Call Termination Rates. These are the charges which one telecommunications operator charges to another for terminating calls on its network. Termination may take place on a fixed or mobile network and may be symmetric (operators pay equal amounts to each other) or asymmetric (one operator, usually the incumbent, pays less than the other operator). See FTR and MTR.

DOC

Department Of Communications. The South African government department responsible for management of the telecommunications industry.

DSL

Digital Subscriber Line. Generic name covering several different technologies for data transmission over fixed phone lines.

EASSy

The East African Submarine Cable System. This is an initiative of various telecom companies in eastern and southern Africa, but some governments have been working through the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) attempting to supervise its construction and management. The 9,900 km cable would run from South Africa up to Sudan. For more information go to www.eassy.org.

ECA

ECA (or EC Act) means the Electronic Communications Act (Act No. 36 of 2005).

ECS

Any service provided to the public, sections of the public, the State, or the subscribers to such service, which consists wholly or mainly of the conveyance by any means of electronic communications over an electronic communications network, but excludes broadcasting services.

ECNS

A service whereby a person makes available an electronic communications network, whether by sale, lease or otherwise:
(a) for that person’s own use for the provision of an electronic communications service or broadcasting service;
(b) to another person for that other person’s use in the provision of an electronic communications service or broadcasting service; or
(c) for resale to an electronic communications service licensee, broadcasting service licensee or any other service contemplated by the Electronic Communications Act.

Ethernet

Ethernet is a large and diverse family of frame-based computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs).

Eyeris™

Eyeris™ is a high-definition, hosted IP video conferencing system from Vox Telecom, offering high definition audio and video quality. The hosted IP bridge removes capital expenditure and enables multi-point, multi-access video conferencing.

Fax Server

A fax server is a set of software running on a server computer which is equipped with one or more fax-capable modems attached to telephone lines (or, more recently, software modem emulators which use "Fax over IP" technology to transmit the signal over an IP network). Its function is to accept documents from users, convert them into faxes, and transmit them, as well as to receive fax calls and either store the incoming documents or pass them on to users.

Fishbone™

Fishbone™ Line Bonder from Vox Telecom combines multiple independent access lines, through line aggregation technologies, into a single high capacity corporate access solution. It is a lower cost alternative to traditionally high-priced access technologies, such as diginet. The new generation Fishbone now includes a full suite of unified threat management solutions (see UTM).

FTR

Fixed Termination Rates. These are the charges which telecommunications operators are charged for terminating calls on a fixed-line network.

GSM

Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world, with its promoter, the GSM Association, estimating that the GSM service provides 80% of the global mobile market and is used by over 1.5 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. Its ubiquity makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world.

Hosting

Hosting or Web Hosting. The process of physically locating a website on a physical server at a secure location, typically belonging to an ISP.

iBurst

iBurst is the name of a supplier of wireless internet services operating in the South African market.

ICASA

Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. This is the regulatory body responsible for oversight of the telecommunications industry. Similar to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the USA or Oftel in the UK.

I-ECNS Licence

Individual ECNS Licence – The ECNS licence comes in two variants, Individual and Class. The Class Licence restricts the Licensee to a geographical area, whereas the Individual Licence enables the Licensee to operate countrywide. The ECNS licence allows the licensee to provide ECNS services to its customers. See ECNS.

I-ECS Licence

Individual ECS Licence – The ECS licence also comes in two variants, Individual and Class. The Class Licence restricts the Licensee to a geographical area, whereas the Individual Licence enables the Licensee to operate countrywide. The ECS licence allows the licensee to provide ECS services to its customers.
See ECS.

InfraCo

InfraCo (or Broadband InfraCo) is the name of the wholly-owned government parastatal that houses the broadband assets previously owned by Transnet and Eskom.

Interconnect Agreement

An Interconnect Agreement is the process for physically connecting the networks of different telecommunications carriers that is typically governed by a legal agreement stipulating specific tariffs for terminating calls on each of the respective networks.

Internet

The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet protocol (IP).

IP

Internet Protocol. A series of rules for communication among computers over the Internet.

ISP

Internet Service Provider. An Internet service provider is a business or organisation that sells to consumers or business access to the internet and related services.

IVR

Interactive Voice Response. The generic term for a machine (hardware and software on a server) that will interface to a phone line and provide an inbound caller to gather information about accounts, orders, etc. For example: Dial 1 for account balance.

LCR

Least Cost Routing. The methodology for routing a voice call over the route that costs the least, effectively taking advantage of arbitrage opportunities that exist relative to the prices charged by competing operators in a network.

Leased Line

A leased line is a symmetric telecommunications line connecting two locations together. Unlike traditional PSTN lines they do not have a telephone number, each side of the line being permanently connected to the other. They can be used for telephone, data or internet services.

Legogo™

Legogo™ from Vox Telecom provides access to Google Apps™ Premier edition. Legogo is a business tool that offers reliable, secure, online applications wherever people are, while reducing IT costs.

Local Loop Unbundling

Local loop unbundling (LLU or LLUB) is the regulatory process of allowing multiple telecommunications operators to use connections from the telephone exchange's central office to the customer's premises. The physical wire connection between customer and company is known as a "local loop", and it is owned by the incumbent local exchange carrier (also referred to as the "ILEC," "local exchange" or an Independent telephone company). In order to increase competition, competitors of the ILEC are granted unbundled access.

LNP

Local number portability. Refers to the ability to transfer either an existing fixed-line or mobile telephone number assigned by a local exchange carrier (LEC) and reassign it to another carrier.

LTE

3GPP Long Term Evolution is the latest standard in the mobile network technology tree that produced the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSxPA network technologies. Although LTE is often marketed as 4G, first-release LTE is a 3.9G technology since it does not fully comply with the IMT Advanced 4G requirements.

MaIN OnE

The MaIN OnE Cable is an undersea cable system expected to span 14,000 km and provide additional capacity for international and Internet connectivity to countries between Portugal and South Africa on the west coast of Africa.

MPLS

Multiprotocol Label Switching. In computer networking and telecommunications, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a data-carrying mechanism, which emulates some properties of a circuit-switched network over a packet-switched network. MPLS operates at an OSI Model layer that is generally considered to lie between traditional definitions of Layer 2 (data link layer) and Layer 3 (network layer), and thus is often referred to as a "Layer 2.5" protocol. It was designed to provide a unified data-carrying service for both circuit-based clients and packet-switching clients, which provide a datagram service model. It can be used to carry many different kinds of traffic, including IP packets, as well as native ATM, SONET, and Ethernet frames.

MTR

Mobile Termination Rates. These are the charges which telecommunications operators are charged for terminating calls on a mobile network.

NBIN

NEPAD Broadband Infrastructure Network is a South African government initiative driven by the Department of Communications (DOC) to provide a regional fibre optic network incorporating terrestrial and sea components.

Open Source

Open source is a set of principles and practices that promote access to the design and production of goods and knowledge. The term is most commonly applied to the source code of software that is available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions. This allows users to create software through incremental individual effort or through collaboration.

OSI

The Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model (OSI Reference Model or OSI Model for short) is a layered, abstract description for communications and computer network protocol design, developed as part of the Open Systems Interconnection initiative. It is also called the OSI seven-layer model.

Packet-
Switched

Packet switching, in computer networking and telecommunications, is the now-dominant communications paradigm in which packets (units of information carriage) are routed between nodes over data links shared with other traffic. This contrasts with the other principal paradigm, circuit-switching which sets up a dedicated connection between the two nodes for their exclusive use for the duration of the communication. Packet switching is used to optimize the use of the bandwidth available in a network, to minimise the transmission latency (i.e. the time it takes for data to pass across the network), and to increase robustness of communication.

PABX/PBX

A Private Automatic Branch Exchange (PABX) is an automatic telephone switching system within a private enterprise. Originally, such systems - called private branch exchanges (PBX) - required the use of a live operator. Since almost all private branch exchanges today are automatic, the abbreviation "PBX" usually implies a "PABX.

Periscope™

Periscope™ is an SSL Gateway or Virtual Private Network (VPN) that allows users (via any web-enabled device) to access their company’s network from anywhere in the world, in a totally secure environment.

POP

Point of Presence. A point-of-presence (POP) is an artificial demarcation point or interface point between communications entities.

Powwow™

Powwow ™ is a hosted IP PABX solution that offers lower cost telephony for SMEs and corporates.

PSTN

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is the concentration of the world's public circuit-switched telephone network in much the same way that the Internet is the concentration of the world's public IP based packet-switched networks. Originally a network of fixed-line analogue telephone systems, the PSTN is now almost entirely digital, and now includes mobile as well as fixed telephones.

SNO

Second Network Operator. The term SNO has been used in the South African context to refer to the second fixed line telecom operator to be licensed after Telkom. The SNO is now known as Neotel.

QoS

Quality of Service. A measure of the level of service quality provided by a telecommunications provider or device. If a router, for example, can provide QoS functionality, it can be programmed or tuned to deliver voice packets ahead of data packets and provide a better voice quality.

SEACOM

The SEACOM marine cable system: The planned 13,000 km undersea fibre optic network will provide connectivity between South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, India and Europe. Owned by the American Heracles Telecom, SEACOM’s planned commissioning date is the first quarter of 2009. The SEACOM cable system is being designed with a nominal capacity of 1,280 Gb/s comprised of two fibre pairs expected to connect South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya to India and Europe (with an option for UAE). For more information go to www.seacom.mu.

Spectrum

The range of electromagnetic radio frequencies used in the transmission of sound, data and television.

TEAMs

The East African Marine System, Teams will be owned by the Kenya Government (up to 40%), while Etilsat of the United Arab Emirates will hold a 20% stake. Private investors - yet to be secured - will hold 40%. The cable will run from Fujairah in the UAE to Mombasa, Kenya.

Telepreneur™

Derived from a combination of telecommunications and entrepreneur, Telepreneur™ is designed to capture the innovative and entrepreneurial personality of the business.

VANS

Value Added Network Services. A term used to refer to other alternative, telecommunications service providers, generally known as VANS licensees that provide telephony services to the telecommunications market.

UTM

Unified Threat Management (UTM) is a comprehensive network gateway defence solution for organisations. It is the evolution of the traditional firewall into an all-inclusive security product that has the ability to perform multiple security functions in one single appliance: network firewalling, network intrusion prevention and gateway antivirus (AV), gateway anti-spam, VPN, content filtering, load balancing and on-appliance reporting.

Verto™

Verto™ is a hosted, carrier-grade IP telephony solution designed to accommodate the end-to end telephony requirements of enterprise, SME and government organisations.

VoIP

Voice Over Internet Protocol. VoIP is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or through any other IP based network.

Vox

Latin for “voice”.

Voxair™

Voxair™ is an automated, secure teleconferencing solution. An unlimited number of participants can make use of this service at any time, from anywhere in the world, without the need to pre-book a time or subscribe to any services.

Vox Cocktail™

Vox Cocktail ™, which will only launch during the course of 2011, is a blended ADSL product that enables users to switch between different types of ADSL usage on the fly.

Vox Populi

Latin for “voice of the people”.

Vox Supafone™

The Vox Supafone™ is a multi-functional cordless phone that enables users to make calls over the internet. It offers dual mode functionality, which means users can easily between internet (Vox) and fixed-line calls at whenever they choose. The Vox Supafone™  offers free on-net calls and rebates on incoming calls.

VPN

Virtual Private Network. A service that links a company’s local and telecom networks with the computers and phones of employees who work remotely, forming a telecom or data communications network that looks to users like a single business network.

WACS

WACS (West Africa Cable System) is a planned submarine communications cable linking South Africa with the United Kingdom along the west coast of Africa. The cable is expected to land in the following African countries: South Africa, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde as well as the Canary Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The landings in Namibia, the DRC, the Republic of Congo and Togo will provide the first direct connections for these countries to the global submarine cable network. The design capacity of WACS is at least 3.84 Tbps.

WIMAX

WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called Wireless MAN. WiMAX allows a user, for example, to browse the Internet on a laptop computer without physically connecting the laptop to a wall jack. The name WiMAX was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL."

WLAN

Wireless Local Area Network. A link created between two or more computers or devices without using wires.

Zeppelin™

Zepplin™ is highly competitive wireless voice and data solution for businesses and SMEs. The wireless link, which offers liberal bandwidth and guaranteed speeds, is well suited to both voice and data applications.