South Africa : Orange Farm Builds Its Own Independent Phone System

Johannesburg — Tech4Africa, the conference that draws a broad range of digital experts together, has kicked off in Johannesburg with speakers covering a range of issues, technical, business and social.

Shuttleworth Foundation Telecommucations Fellow Steve Song was opening speaker at the Tech section discussing community network Voice over IP systems he's constructed bypassing the usual telephone company control.

He's put together hardware and basic software on a local VOIP service he calls "Mesh Potato" which basically combines a small Wireless mesh product built in China with Unix commands to allow local communities to run their own phone systems.

"As much as 50% of people's income monthly is spent on communications in Africa, in South Africa its only slightly better at 40% - but that's too much" he told delegates at The Forum in Bryanston.

The system features a 400 meter throw which allows the users in a small community to remain connected, and to build low cost communication into a broader grid.

The two-day conference ends tomorrow

The two-day conference ends tomorrow, and speakers will cover mobile, technology, web, hardware, application development, and social and business issues through the coming days.

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