TELKOM CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

TELKOM is well known for the successful Center of Excellence (CoE) programs it established with various institutions. The Vaal University of Technology is one of the most recent CoE endeavours. Established officially on 23 October 2003 at the Emerald Casino Hotel, when the stakeholders signed the agreement. The Center of Excellence is hosted in the Department of Applied Electronics of the Faculty of Engineering under the leadership of Dr. Christo Pienaar.

It is co-sponsored by Telkom, M-TEC (Malesela Taihan Electric Cable (PTY) LTD) and TFMC (Telecommunications Facilities Management Company). The sponsorship was also increased by means of the Technology and Human Resources Industry Programme (NRF-THRIP) support. The sponsors and THRIP enables the Center to invoke well-supported, productive research projects, support the postgraduate students to reach their maximum potential – and more!

The focus is on the development of affordable telephone facilities. This has grown into two areas of interest identified towards further research:

• Fuel Cell technology, and
• Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).