In brief: South Africa’s load shedding era may be receding in 2025, but power resilience remains a critical concern for telecoms resellers and their clients — the investments made during Stage 6 have redefined what businesses expect from their communications infrastructure during outages.
Where Load Shedding Stands in 2025
After years of severe Stage 4–6 load shedding that crippled South African businesses, 2025 has brought relative stability. Eskom’s improved generation capacity — driven by new open-cycle gas turbine procurement, maintenance recovery, and the contribution of embedded generation — has reduced scheduled outages significantly. However, grid instability remains a real risk, and businesses that removed backup power infrastructure during a “good” period have been caught out during unexpected outages.
For telecoms resellers, the lesson is clear: power resilience is not a temporary project that ends when load shedding schedules ease. It is a permanent infrastructure requirement for any business that depends on communications to operate. And selling power-resilient telecom solutions is now a genuine differentiator in the SA market.
How Load Shedding Affects VoIP and UCaaS Systems
Traditional PBX systems running on-site hardware have a straightforward power problem: when the building loses power, so does the phone system (unless there’s UPS backup). But modern VoIP and UCaaS environments introduce additional complexity:
IP phones: Most desk phones and conference room devices are powered via PoE (Power over Ethernet) switches. If the switch loses power, all PoE devices lose power simultaneously. A UPS on the switch keeps phones running; without it, all extensions go down.
Internet connectivity: Even if a client’s internal network stays up on UPS, their fibre ONT (Optical Network Terminal) and CPE router also need power. During Stage 6, many ONTs were connected directly to clients’ UPS units — a simple but often overlooked fix that keeps the internet link alive.
Cloud/hosted PBX: Hosted systems are immune to the client’s power situation because the PBX itself runs in a data centre with redundant power. However, calls still fail if the client’s internet connection or IP phones lose power. The hosted model reduces on-site infrastructure risk but doesn’t eliminate it.
Mobile fallback: 3CX, Yeastar, and other hosted PBX platforms support mobile softphone apps. During a load shedding event, staff can continue to receive and make business calls on their smartphones even if the office is dark — provided mobile data remains available and the hosted PBX continues to route calls.
Power Resilience Solutions by Component
PoE Switches and Network Equipment
A 48V UPS designed for networking equipment can keep a PoE switch, router, and ONT running for several hours during a 2.5-hour Stage 4 block. Popular options in SA include:
- Mecer/Mustek rack-mount UPS units — widely available, affordable, suitable for server rooms
- APC Back-UPS series — consumer and SME-grade, good for keeping router/switch/ONT alive during outages
- Custom lithium battery packs — increasingly popular; load shedding created a cottage industry of solar + battery installers who can spec a 3–4 hour runtime solution
The key spec to quote when advising clients is runtime at load. A switch drawing 150W total (50W switch + 100W PoE load from phones) needs a UPS rated for at least 500VA/300W to provide reliable 2–3 hour runtime.
Solar + Battery Storage
The load shedding era accelerated solar adoption in South Africa dramatically. By 2025, a significant proportion of commercial properties in SA metros have rooftop solar with battery storage. These installations typically include automatic changeover switches that transition to battery power within milliseconds of grid failure — faster than most UPS units and without the battery degradation concerns of traditional lead-acid UPS systems.
For clients who have invested in solar + battery, the power resilience question for VoIP is largely solved. The more important question becomes ensuring their network infrastructure (switches, ONT, router) is connected to the battery circuit, not the grid circuit.
Generator Integration
Larger commercial properties and data centres rely on diesel generators as the primary backup for extended outages. Telecoms resellers in this market need to understand generator transfer switch timing: most generators take 10–30 seconds to start and reach stable voltage, during which VoIP calls drop. A UPS that bridges this gap (even a small one rated for 2–3 minutes) ensures continuous call quality during generator switchover.
Designing Loadshedding-Resilient VoIP Deployments
The best time to address power resilience is at installation, not during a Stage 4 event. When quoting a VoIP deployment for a new client, build power resilience assessment into your site survey:
- Identify all powered VoIP components — IP phones, PoE switch, router, ONT, any on-site PBX hardware
- Measure or estimate total power draw — consult device specs for wattage
- Determine required runtime — Stage 2 = 2.5 hours per block, Stage 4 = 4+ hours across the day
- Recommend appropriate UPS or battery solution — size for at least 3 hours at calculated load
- Configure mobile softphone fallback — ensure all users have the 3CX app / Yeastar Linkus / Teams mobile app installed and tested
- Document the failover procedure — leave the client with a clear “what to do during load shedding” guide
Hosted vs On-Premise: The Power Resilience Equation
Load shedding made a compelling case for hosted/cloud PBX over on-premise hardware. A client running 3CX or Yeastar in the cloud with no on-site server has one less device to protect from power failure. The data centre running their PBX has its own multi-redundant power infrastructure.
However, “cloud PBX” is only half the equation. Staff still need powered IP phones and an internet connection to use it. Resellers who sold cloud PBX as a “zero on-site hardware” solution sometimes failed to account for the power requirements of PoE switches and network gear. The result: clients called during Stage 6 to complain that their “cloud system” wasn’t working, when the actual problem was an unpowered PoE switch.
This experience has made power resilience planning a standard part of responsible cloud PBX deployments in South Africa.
What This Means for SA Telecoms Resellers
Even as load shedding eases, power resilience remains a strong selling point for clients who experienced disruption during the Stage 4–6 era. The experience of 2022–2024 means business owners are now far more receptive to conversations about backup power than they were before — they’ve lived through the cost of communications downtime.
For resellers, power resilience solutions represent a legitimate add-on revenue stream. A UPS or battery backup package added to every VoIP installation adds margin while genuinely improving the client experience. It also reduces your support burden: a significant proportion of “VoIP is down” support calls trace back to power issues that a proper backup solution would have prevented.
Consider offering tiered power resilience packages — basic (UPS for router and switch, 3-hour runtime), standard (battery backup with solar integration consultation), and premium (full site survey and generator interface) — as standard options in your VoIP proposal templates. Clients who experienced Stage 6 will understand exactly what they’re paying for.
About the Author
Mechelle Gindra
Mechelle Gindra is the managing editor and lead content strategist at Telecoms-Channel, South Africa's dedicated intelligence platform for telecoms resellers, ICT distributors, and channel partners. She oversees the editorial team's AI-assisted content production pipeline, ensuring vendor news, market analysis, and regulatory updates are accurate, timely, and actionable for the SA telecoms channel community. With deep expertise in the South African telecoms reseller ecosystem, Mechelle directs coverage of vendor partner programmes, ICASA regulatory developments, wholesale market dynamics, and channel business strategy. She is responsible for maintaining Telecoms-Channel's editorial standards, fact-checking processes, and corrections policy.
