Seacom, a Convergence Partners investee company, has launched a new company called Pamoja, to offer small and medium-sized enterprises the ability to provide cloud computing-based services to their customers without the capital outlay such services usually require. Pamoja is the Swahili word for “together” and is Seacom’s effort to increase the use of such services in Africa
SEACOM, a pan-African ICT enabler, plans to expand its European connectivity to Amsterdam and will be the latest partner to join the AMS-IX reselling program. Joining the program gives SEACOM the opportunity to make connectivity to the AMS-IX platform more easily available for African Internet companies. Peering and IP interconnection between African and European networks will be greatly enhanced moving forward.
Convergence Partners released its Annual Report for 2011 financial year, celebrating an exciting and successful first five years of investing in the fast growing African ICT market.
In his Chairman’s report , Andile Ngcaba highlights the beneficially disruptive effects that the flood of broadband infrastructure (international submarine, wireless and satellite infrastructure) will have on the African market. In addition, new technology developments such as LTE, digital terrestrial broadcasting and social media will be making a significant impact on the African ICT landscape.
Convergence Partners congratulates Brian Herlihy, founder and Executive Director at SEACOM, who has been named as one of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) 192 Young Global Leaders for 2012. The annual honour recognises up to 200 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.
East African internet users experienced reduced speeds on Tuesday, 28th February after ships’ anchors severed the two undersea fiber optic cables off the coast. The companies involved on Tuesday said repairs could take up to two weeks.
The cables operated by Teams, a company partly owned by the Kenyan government, were cut on Saturday near the Kenyan port of Mombasa by a ship’s anchor. Eleven days earlier, another ship dragging its anchor cut the cables of Eassy, a consortium of telecommunications companies.
Convergence Partners investee, Seacom, reports that, in 2012, it will upgrade its East African submarine cable and increase capacity to meet rising demand from the African continent.
In addition, Seacom will be expanding its core backhaul routes, such as the network between Johannesburg and Mtunzini, in KwaZulu-Natal, and the Marseilles to London cable.
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.
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.
Wireless solutions provider Comsol, a Convergence Partners investee, started the R2-million installation of its new wireless multiservice wide-area network (WAN) solution at ferrochrome producer Samancor Chrome’s project sites, in Mpumalanga and the North West, in September.
Comsol chief commercial officer Darren Morgan tells Mining Weekly that the contract entails the installation of customised carrier-class high-speed wireless links to connect Samancor Chrome’s different sites.
SEACOM, the pan-African ICT enabler, announced the appointment of Mark Simpson as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect 5 September 2011. Brian Herlihy, the current CEO, will remain with the company as a member of the Board and take on the new role of Executive Director where he will focus on strategic projects essential for SEACOM’s continued success.
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