Company Profile
Next Generation Mindset
Providing telecommunications is not just about digging up the roads and connecting buildings; it's also about delivering services that connect people using open collaborative networks and business models.
"At ECN we recognise the ability of information and communication technology to profoundly transform the way organisations work by making it easier and cheaper for people to access information and make telephone calls. However, what differentiates us from our competitors is the combination of our two greatest assets, namely our Next Generation Network (NGN) and our Next Generation Mindset," says John Holdsworth, Chief Executive Officer at ECN.
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Quality and Quantity
ECN's successful customer acquisitions have fuelled the company's rapid growth over the past 24 months. In the current financial climate, reducing costs, protecting margins and improving returns are the order of the day.
Companies are actively reducing their operational costs as financial pressures take their toll. Telecommunications providers like ECN are well positioned to provide organisations with better and more cost-effective options. ECN's comprehensive portfolio of converged voice and data services is backed by its advanced next generation network (NGN).
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Next Generation Advantage
"ECN has used an 'asset light' approach to build its NGN, adopting the view that capital should only be invested in the network at the points of highest value. To this end, ECN owns the routing and switching platforms, but leases layer 1 physical capacity from infrastructure providers, such as Dark Fibre Africa or Broadlinks for example," says Mike Britz, ECN COO.
"This asset light model incorporates the objectivity required to provide the network solution that most closely fits our customer's requirements. ECN does not own physical telecomms assets or have preferred partners and therefore has the freedom to source infrastructure from the most suitable suppliers on a case-by-case basis," he adds.
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The Shape Of Things to Come
With robust systems built on a fundamental IP core, ECN is able to support a variety of value-added services for its clients.
A general trend is for IP to be adopted as the common protocol of choice for converged next generation networks (NGN). ECN has developed an IP based NGN using a range of technologies including copper wire, fibre circuits, WiMAX and digital microwave. "NGN's are based on a genuinely innovative set of technologies that are transforming the way businesses communicate. The key to this lies in the difference between what legacy networks and NGN's have to offer.
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A Journey To Liberalisation
New entrant, ECN, is fighting the good fight to bring improved services, at reasonable costs, to customers.
"In a well-functioning market, competing suppliers are incentivised to reduce costs and innovate with new products and services. Unfortunately the current regulatory roadblock is preventing this from happening and the ultimate loser is the consumer. ICASA has finally issued the new electronic communications licenses.
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Better Together
With copper theft rife, Songimali saw a market opportunity to offer wireless telecoms services, and ECN was more than willing to help.
Catering effectively to every market sector is very challenging. Often this creates the potential for partnerships to be formed. One such example is the relationship which exists between ECN and telecoms reseller, Songimali. "When ECN started, we had no cost-effective model for servicing smaller customers," says Andy Openshaw, ECN’s chief commercial officer.
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The Cream of Communications
Fed up of feeling like a cash cow to its previous telecoms supplier dairy giant Clover decided it was time to look elsewhere.
For most of us understanding how our milk gets from a cow to our cornflakes is not something we put a lot of thought into. But like any commercial operation there are a lot of industrial and business processes that take place to get the carton into our fridge. Perhaps surprisingly to some is that Clover relies heavily on an outbound call centre to generate most of its own sales.
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Channel To Success
ECN focuses on its network and services and relies on its channel to identify opportunities and close deals.
It's who you know that matters. So says Matthew Montagu, channel manager at ECN. "We rely on resellers and wholesalers to act as our sales channel," he explains. "Because they generally have existing relationships within the various target accounts and often have access to the right people at the right level."
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