Convergence Partners investee company, Seacom, has signed a 20-year connectivity agreement with the Mozambican Government to access international broadband fibre connectivity on its network to Europe and the rest of the world.

Permanent secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology Dr Evaristo Baquete said in a statement that the Mozambican government viewed affordable and high-quality data networks as a vital tool in achieving the country’s developmental goals.

The agreement aimed to benefit the Mozambique Research and Education Network (MoRENet) and the Government Electronic Network (GovNet), which form part of the Mozambican

“Over the past three years, we have witnessed how the availability of true broadband at lower prices can accelerate educational initiatives and economic development across the region,” commented Seacom CEO Mark Simpson.

More – Seacom website

Article from Engineering News

Seacom, a Convergence Partners investee company, has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Square Kilometre Array (SKA) South Africa to provide support for the country’s €1.5-billion SKA radio telescope project.

SKA South Africa site bid manager Dr. Bruce Wallace said in placing the SKA data transport capacity requirement in perspective, the SKA network is estimated to be 100 to 150 times larger than the current World Wide Web network.

“The SKA project is a mega-science project and will require the upgrade of infrastructure for science and research. However, the benefits of this upgraded technology and infrastructure will be felt not only by scientists, but by businesses and economies.”

He said the wavelength project and the MOU, demonstrated Seacom’s commitment to continuously elevate Africa’s position as a primary scientific and business destination.

“The timing of this important telecommunications milestone couldn’t be better; it comes in time for inclusion in the SKA site bid submission reports due by the middle of September,” Wallace added.

Construction on the SKA is scheduled to start around 2016, and the announcement of the successful bidder, either South Africa or Australia, is expected by the end of March 2012.”

Engineering News Article

Conclusion: The African communications growth story can no longer be viewed as a frontier opportunity as more and more players from developed markets enter the African market.

Rather, the market is showing signs of greater maturity reflected by, amongst other: (i) increased competition; (ii) reducing gross margins; (iii) declining ARPUs; (iv) greater complexity of product offering and mobile payment services; (v) active attempts by incumbent mobile and fixed-line operators to expand into other parts of the value chain; and (vi) the emergence of infrastructure sharing models. While subscriber growth remains superior to other regions, with significant pent-up demand remaining, these changes in the communications landscape is forcing operators to rethink their strategies and focus on the next wave of growth.

Significantly, there have been a number of major developments that will catapult the African communications market into another league from both a cost and bandwidth perspective. These include the arrival of new international submarine fibre optic cables such as Seacom connecting the East African seaboard to international submarine fibre networks and the accelerated liberalisation of African communications markets.

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WiMAX is this technology (the so-called “elephant in the room”): standards have been passed, mobility will soon be enabled, and the cost of its rollout can be achieved at a fraction of the cost of the capital requirements of a 3G network. The equipment is robust and manufacturers are pressing on with chip developments for the new generation mobile devices.

So why then does LTE continue to exist? In our view the answer to this question lies in the following:

• Resistance from some existing network operators;
• Limited availability of spectrum; and
• WiMAX mobility is only starting to look possible.

Nonetheless, in this report we demonstrate that WiMAX serves as a cheap and viable solution to Africa’s wireless broadband needs, and is a serious contender that can be implemented by existing GSM operators and is in fact already being rolled out.

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The introduction of innovative pricing models has opened previously untapped markets.  This expansion is accompanied and supported by convergence, liberalisation of policy environments and rapid technology changes. The maturing of some markets has seen reduced revenue per user, but these are being offset by increased volumes, revenues and higher-end broadband offerings.

A few major international and regional players dominate the market, with significant corporate activity a strong feature.

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