Internet provider SEACOM has scaled its
regional presence in Africa upwards, adding eight new points of presence across
the continent. This move is expected to enable more African businesses to
connect to cloud facilities and data centers across the world, such as
Microsoft Azure data centers in South Africa.
One new point of presence is Mombasa’s iColo data centre, which is the first fully open data centre in Kenya – any network operator or business can take advantage of the limitless network and data support solutions that the facility has to offer such as premium IP/MPLS.
SEACOM says it in the process of setting up
more open access data centres in the East African capitals of Nairobi and
Kampala. These facilities are expected to increase competition among carriers
and mobile network operators (MNOs) with the end data/network user standing to
reap the benefits of lowered costs and improved connection speeds of up to 100
mbps and 100gbps, speeds that SEACOM’s infrastructure has already achieved.
SEACOM is also establishing a new point of
presence in South Africa with Teraco.
“This new facility is a key location, catering specifically to content providers and enterprise customers. It will also serve as an important data recovery site for many operators,” Robert Marston, Global Head of Product at SEACOM said in a statement.
SEACOM recently acquired South Africa’s Fibre
Co Telecommunications as part of its expansion strategy. SEACOM also covers
crucial Europe exchange points such as London, Frankfort, Stockholm, Amsterdam
and Marseille, as well as Mumbai in Asia.
“The moves that SEACOM is making to improve our infrastructure on the continent will benefit African companies with greater high-speed, reliable and secure connectivity to cloud services and other online tools. One of our major objectives is to add simplicity to cloud migrations wherever possible,” Marston added.