What Bushmail is good for:

Mining Sector:

Bushmail is ideal for the start of Multi Million Dollar mining projects that eventually become huge mining operations. Most expats on site want to communicate with their loved ones and coordinate the logistics with various support services based in the capital and regional towns. Experience in Angola, DRC and other turbulent countries has shown that the most basic, most rugged communication solution is called for during the pioneer phase.

It is often very difficult to get Technical Support Staff into the high security special clearance areas. The great advantage of Bushmail is that the Diesel mechanic or geologist can install it himself. The flat annual fee makes it very easy for head office to know exactly what the annual bill will be and tend to stimulate use of the system.

We have found that numerous Laptops with one or two modems work really well –as users can have separate callsigns and personal email addresses. This is really handy for the various security, technical and managerial staff as they only plug into the modem when they wish to up and download their email –while they read and compose the mail in their rooms or offices.

Note that we recommend the $2000 per annum Industrial Attachment package for this application. It allowed 2 modems to be used on the mining concession.

Note that a Laptop that works of 12 Volts is recommended-get a cigarette lighter power plug. Most Mining operations lock the satphone away and give the expats on site free access to the Bushmail. This allows the time spend on site to be increased with a week or two between brakes and incur no additional charges to the bottom line. The total cost of ownership remain the same.

Note that Bushmail do not charge any Airtime for geological survey operations.

Tourism:

HF Email is to remote Lodge communication what the Windmill is to agriculture. The key issue is that a Lodge do not require more than the ability to Email Excel and Word attachments in order to reliably run a remote tourism Lodge. Note that most successful Tourism marketing operations are not based in the Bush, and that most managing couples stay for 12-18 months max. The issue is to keep costs low- maximising logistical efficiencies and picking up on all last minute bookings.

Bushmail is not a blank cheque book and it is very hard for management couples to encur additional costs by using it to its full potential. The same can not be said about Satelite phones and any capped communication service. The availability of Diesel and support personel is also a key factor in peak tourism season.

Bushmail has become the Industry standard for well run tourism lodges in remote locations. There appears to be a direct correlation between the number of Lodges a group has and their use of Bushmail. The more business and the bottom line is the overriding factor instead of the management couple’s short term agenda the more cost efficiencies play a part in the operation. People that brake away from the First World rat race for a holiday in a remote location doesn’t require access to the Internet and the need for Satelite access at more than twice the price.

A vital issue when you have 200 bednights to fill is that you cannot afford for a Satelite system to be down for 7-10 days in peak season. While Bushmail might be slow during certain times it always allows communication to get through. This robustness is what makes a tight booking schedule and last minute order possible. You want it to work all the time, and not to have broadband some of the time. Consider the cost contradictions of free HF Voice support with Bushmail against expensive per minute satellite charges whenever the Vsat is down.

At the end of the day the financial cashflow level in the tourism is a lot more important than the hormone level of a very young manager. Giving them cost free communication with friends and family cuts down the need for problematic R&R trips to the capital city.

Agriculture:

The wheel has come a full circle and the next 5 years will see a lot of relocating farmers. It appears that better rainfall and farmer friendly politics are the key issues driving this migration to new pioneer territories. Bushmail and reliable communication is vital for such pioneer business projects far from markets, support services and infrastructure. From 1993 to 2004 the number of commercial famring units in South Africa dropped with 25%. It is a matter of rainfall and the pattern appears to be one of manufacturing moving south and agriculture moving north within the SADC region.

Farmers are the ideal users for the following reasons: