Pan-African telecoms enabler SEACOM has entered the fibre to the home business, under its SEACOM Business initiative to provide corporate organizations in East Africa with reliable data connectivity, cloud services and consistent service quality by leveraging SEACOM’s existing network infrastructure and product set.
Some of the already existing players in this market include Liquid Telecom, Wananchi Group’s Zuku, Jamii Telecom, Safaricom among others. SEACOM’s new product offerings include Fibre Internet Access with options ranging from 25Mbps up to 1Gbps and was launched a year ago in South Africa.
“SEACOM initially focused on bringing low-cost data transmission infrastructure to other service providers in Africa. However, we were not seeing the optimal take-up of our international data capabilities to the end-user market, and the associated benefits that this can bring,” said SEACOM CEO Byron Clatterbuck.
“SEACOM is now offering our data and other services directly to companies in East Africa, with a focus on our regional and international footprint that other providers lack. We own and operate our own network end-to-end at the fibre level, allowing us to offer seamless and cost-effective network solutions regionally, as well as into Europe and Asia,” added Mr. Clatterbuck.
Last mile access will play a crucial role in the delivery of these services as SEACOM intends to boost uptake through key partnerships with local and regional fibre providers. Says Clatterbuck, “We have already built out 8 metro points of presence around Nairobi, and this gives us a solid base from which to extend further with our partners. By having our own metro PoPs, we can better manage service quality and network scalability to our growing customer base.”
SEACOM Business Sales Lead Patrick Ndegwa, said that the company aims to provide corporate customers high-speed connectivity and quality bandwidth at an affordable cost, on a selective basis in the corporate data connectivity space.
“The time is right for us to diversify our business into the corporate market with focused data offerings bundled with last-mile fibre,” says Mr. Ndegwa. “We believe the uptake will be tremendous as customers get a taste of our service offering, which we have already seen in South Africa.”
The company is leveraging its abundant and scalable capacity on its undersea cable system and continent-wide IP-MPLS network, as well as the capabilities of its Cloud services, to enable corporates in South Africa and East Africa to smoothly transition to the Cloud.
SEACOM launched the first broadband submarine cable system along the East African coastline in 2009 linking South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique with major Internet connection hubs in Europe and Asia.
Today, it offers a redundant connectivity ring around Africa’s east and west coasts, optimal traffic routing, and resiliency through multiple tier-1 upstream partners in Europe and Asia. It also offers direct connectivity to African routes and content. It delivers these services over last-mile access through leading connectivity partnerships in various regions.
Last-mile fibre is a major focus for SEACOM in the corporate market. Initially, the company aims to bring standard fibre to corporate customers in Kenya and South Africa.
