What ICT advancement can be expected in 2020

What ICT advancement can be expected in 2020

ByEnrico Leigh

Many new developments were birthed in 2019 in the telecoms, broadband and IT sector, some of which were under research and development and are only becoming publicly available in 2020. This year, there is an expectation for more, with a focus on growing the connectivity infrastructure and internet penetration, which is a driving force for many new technological advancements that require access to the world wide web at increasing speeds.

The power and possibility of 5G

Despite the controversy around the health effects of 5G, the ICT Ministry says that South Africans can expect this new technology to be delivered to the public in 2020. By introducing 5G, internet service providers will be able to cater for more traffic at greater speeds, with increased reliability which will benefit their users across all their devices as internet use continues to grow.

IoT outlook

With an increase in IoT technologies within the business and consumer market, an increasing number of technologies are linking to various data sources around the world. The increase in data storage requirements will increase the need for storage capacity. Currently, the largest datacentres are storing a few petabytes of data but it is expected that data volume will reach exabyte and even zettabyte capacity in the foreseeable future.

Because of the rise of IoT, telco’s and ISP’s will see an increase in new subscribers. This increase is due to the fact that by this year the ratio between machine and human communications will be 30:1. This growth will allow providers to extend their base by five times its current size.

Content explosion

Telcos are adapting their communication platforms to cater for the increase in digital platforms as a means of communication. Some providers have increased in capacity on WACS, such as IS that have upped their capacity to 400GB to meet the increased demand for higher throughput and lower latency which has been triggered by the increase in content demands.

Broadband: Fibre

The value of broadband has advanced:

  • Aside from the recent figures, SA’s broadband internet prices is still steeper when compared to a stack of other countries.
  • The balanced monthly fee of Broadband internet access in SA was calculated at R790,03.

SD-WAN

A foundation of SD-WAN is the capability to stabilize undependable internet links and track unusual traffic flows. SD-WAN providers are on a journey to improve their security features and to create a more resilient ecosystem of network security partners.

These are only 5 elements in the technological industry that we have looked at, with drastic implications across the sector. In addition, there is a vast array of other technological advancements that are as revolutionary in changing the tech industry in 2020 and improving not only the sector but the economy as a whole and also furthering SA towards their digital expansion.