SEACOM has launched an African IP Transit offering, supported by its Remote Peering connectivity solution in a move that will its customers leverage its growing African IP footprint to gain direct, cost-effective access to content and end-users located across the African continent said its CEO Mark Simpson.

According to Simpson, the IP Transit offering will reduce latency and network hops, furthering its goal of creating a truly African Internet because its clients will no longer need to transit through off-continent locations.

SEACOM’s African IP Transit Service customers such as ISPs and Content Providers will utilize its large African IP footprint to gain direct, cost-effective access to content and end-users located across the African continent. It will also allow direct inter-African traffic routing across Southern & East Africa, full access to the South African routes & content, burstable capacity & rapid upgrades, minimal capital investment in infrastructure and reduced network and commercial complexity.

The firm has also said it will expand into new territories in Africa especially the  West Coast and it is also evolving from just a cable operator into an infrastructure provider that offers a range of IP solutions to its service provider and operator customers.

According to Simpson, “During the past year, we have seen terrific progress. Our investments in West coast capacity, our African ring and meshed IP networks have started to come into their own – developments that have been really good for SEACOM’s customers. Terrestrial fibre penetration has also improved and we’re seeing continued and essential access network developments across our markets. These factors helped us to grow in 2013 and will continue to fuel our evolution in 2014.”

Apart from expanding into a number of new countries which it does not yet serve directly such as the aforementioned West coast countries. SEACOM promises to up its investments in countries to ensure its already operational.

In 2014, SEACOM expects to see more neutral, reliable data centres, active innovation hubs, open IX peering exchanges, cloud delivered ICT infrastructure and access networks come together to catalyse the full potential of the market,

Last year, SEACOM added new points of presence (PoPs) in Durban, Cape Town and Yzerfontein, interconnected to existing PoPs located in Johannesburg and Mtunzini and it now plans to link it to other submarine cable systems on the West and East coast. SEACOM also wants to build a continent-wide ecosystem rather than simply focusing on international connectivity and the firm is upgrading its IP/MPLS networks to enable customers to provide faster and more reliable Internet connectivity to their enterprise and retail customer bases on a scalable and flexible basis that supports growth and assists end users to manage risk.