ICT innovator Tellumat has urged SA businesses to support their compatriots, in cases where they can hold their own against global competition.
CEO Rasheed Hargey qualifies the sentiment: "The last thing SA needs is for its business community to be given hand-outs just because they are Proudly South African or BEE-compliant. BEE-compliant firms get points for being compliant, as well they should, but it must not be the only issue."
Hargey argues that where a local company offers a world-class solution, customers should lean towards supporting that company. "This will sustain growth, create jobs, grow skills and enable suppliers to plough money back into research and development," he says. "It creates a positive spin-off for the country in many areas, including exports, jobs and skills creation, and it will sharpen the country's competitive edge."
To offer a world-class solution, product or service, a company has to be innovative, Hargey continues. "Whether that means they are investing in product R&D, or they are taking their products to market in eye-catching or efficient new ways, or they are putting a solution together that few others can, they have to have an edge over their peers.
"Tellumat Contract Manufacturing, for instance, has many competitors in the contract [outsourced] manufacturing game. As a company, we have had to plough a lot of investment into our manufacturing and design techniques, an average annual figure of 10% of revenue. That is considered a world-class percentage. And with our skills, we can offer a turnkey solution - from design and industrialisation, to manufacturing, logistics and after-sales support. This is something few of our competitors can do." The company includes up to 50% local content [components] in its assemblies, whereas all ICT equipment from the global brands is 100% imported.
But what is innovative today can be left behind tomorrow. Many overseas giants are closing in on the SA market as they exhaust developed regions, he says, and in the ICT industry things are generally moving fast. "Notwithstanding our possible home soil advantage, we should keep looking over our shoulders," Hargey cautions. "We have to keep innovating. And for that to be sustainable, we need the support of SA businesses."
Amongst many of its innovations Tellumat lays claim to, one is its recently launched software-definable microwave radio, which gives telcos the option to provide a mix of Ethernet and traditional 2 Mbps circuits for interconnection between base stations. Tellumat is also responsible for the first all-in-one GSM payphone in the country, and today has installed over 100 000 units across much of the continent. And, according to Tellumat, its SIMpill chronic medication adherence system is returning astounding TB cure and adherence rates.
Hargey challenges enterprise end-users to do a like-for-like comparison of Tellumat's microwave access products against best-in-class global giants like Siemens, Ericsson and NEC, in the areas of features, performance, lead times and cost. The company already gets a fair amount of business from the big names in SA telecoms. "And it is not just because we are South African," he says. "We meet their internationally-benchmarked needs."
For more information contact Rasheed Hargey, Tellumat, +27 (0)21, 710 2911, rhargey@tellumat.com
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