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 this is not for gain, it's legal.

The first of its kind has been setup in Orange Farm, and a second is being built in downtown Johannesburg.

He explained that the concept was to allow low cost communication to offset the problem Africans experience with their telecoms costs.

"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.

Using SIP and other wireless standards, these communities can technically plug their services into the national communication system.

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.

Funded by Shuttleworth, the project has seen interest from Ugandan and Kenyan investors.

"We used Linksys WRT hardware and hacked it, then realized that you don't have to use European or American standard hardware, we could just build our own, " he said.

"We approached a company in China, and they wanted developmental ideas, so it was a win-win."

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.