Mark Tinka, Head of Engineering at Seacom, a Convergence Partners investee, says that telecommunications regulators and African governments need to clear away the red tape and regulatory risks around putting fibre in the ground to encourage network operators to invest in sinking fibre into the ground for terrestrial long-distance and last mile connectivity.
Plessey, a subsidiary of Dimension Data, has been awarded a contract for equipping Emalahleni (formerly Witbank) and Middelburg with fibre optical infrastructure for broadband access by February 2013. The fibre optic infrastructure project for the towns is part of a R3,5-billion national network that is being constructed over the next several years to provide broadband access to under-serviced areas and will involve laying some 121km of optical fibre in a ring around each town and in a link that connects them.
Broadband connectivity is becoming cheaper in many countries and it has also easier for many businesses and individuals to access the Internet. One of the biggest players in the Internet connectivity industry is Internet Solutions (IS). IT News Africa recently took advantage of the opportunity to sit down with Managing Director Saki Missaikos to find out about IS’ strategy going forward, his vision for the future and the company’s further expansion into Africa.
Seacom will look to the cloud to expand its local offering and help keep African content on the continent.
The shape of a “New Internet” is beginning to emerge in Africa, and Seacom’s recent statement that it is set to launch cloud computing services for the continent is pivotal to the movement.
Internet Solutions (IS), has reached the critical mass required to achieve economies of scale in terms of operational capabilities and cost savings with the addition of the new Randview data centre.
“Just about everything in the world today works more efficiently based on economies of scale, as provisioning, orchestration systems and services for more clients makes it cheaper,” says Graeme O’Driscoll, innovation & technology manager: cloud at IS. “With the addition of Randview to our data centre network we have hit the sweet spot in terms of capacity, which means we can start leveraging off of our economies of scale in terms of bulk power supply, space, cooling and human resources.”
When the competing fleet of 11-strong crews of professional sailors dock in Cape Town harbour after up to 22 days on the open sea, Convergence Partners’ investee companies, Dimension Data, Internet Solutions and Comsol, have exclusivity in providing connectivity for the race fleet while it is docked in the Mother City port for repairs and re-stocking. The Cape Town leg of the race will take place in early December
Howard Early, COO of Plessey, explains the growing need for specialist infrastructure management in the fast-changing telco world.
In the early days of telecoms, it was taken for granted that the telco would build, operate and maintain its own infrastructure. Now, while many telcos do still operate their own infrastructure, fewer actually build it, and many outsource the maintenance of it.
Information technology (IT) services provider Dimension Data, a Convergence Partners investee, has been awarded the contract to supply all IT services for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP 17) event.
The contract entails the supply of network, audio, visual, wireless and Internet connectivity across the Durban venue.
SEACOM and MAIN One, the only two privately funded and open-access based African submarine fibre optic cable systems, were awarded “Best Pan African Initiative” at the AfricaCom Awards 2011 ceremony held in Cape Town, South Africa, last week. The award recognises an initiative taken by an organisation or a group of organisations to improve telecommunications services at a regional or continental level.
Main One Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke, explained: “Through this partnership, Main One and SEACOM have extended their individual cable systems to the opposite coasts of Africa without the efforts required to construct brand new routes.
Co-author of Convergence Partners’ first research report, Russell Southwood of Balancing Act, reports back on the optimism surrounding the ICT sector during the 14th annual AfricaCom conference held in Cape Town in November 2011.
Russell reported that AfricaCom, expanded this year to include Enterprise ICT and Africast streams, has become a necessary meeting place for the role-players in the industry. He identified the following key threads at the conference:
E-Mail
DIGG
Facebook
De.licio.us
Tweet this