Africa’s rapid network expansion possible through collaboration

2015 has brought renewed investment in IT & networking infrastructure with the focus remaining on Africa and its global investors to deliver, regardless of the downturn and recovery process. This is especially relevant to telecoms carriers, with the majority expecting significant returns from this emerging market.
Considering the investments made in fibre networks, in particular, there has been an increase in solutions from carriers as a means to remain ahead of the fast changing demands of the market. With regards to executing and expanding fibre footprints, many carriers are looking to make use of partnerships to effectively deliver what their clients expect. These carrier investments and partnerships are critical, as businesses now require higher bandwidth fibre connectivity for Internet access and other related services.
“We are seeing a growing trend of collaboration,” says Edward Lawrence, director of business development for Workonline Communications, an innovative pan-African service provider of fibre-based connectivity services. “Over the past three months there has been 100% growth in traffic and peers; the IPv6 traffic increase on NAPAfrica over the last year has grown from 10 IPv6 peers, 2 Mbps peak in Aug 2014 to 55 IPv6 peers, 664 Mbps peak in August 2015.”
Lawrence says that if Africa is to meet its growth predictions and the global economy is to see returns on its investment, collaboration is essential. “This is especially true when it comes to infrastructure sharing. The collaborative approach of global players leveraging regional network expertise accelerates the availability of high quality IP transit and connectivity, and ensures that their go-to-market rates remain relevant.
“Through collaboration, we are able to extend the reach of our fibre-based connectivity to regions in the world where we are not present, while extending the reach of other global networks in sub-Saharan Africa. Our overall goal is to improve the quality of the Internet in Africa, while simultaneously driving down costs and increasing market penetration,” he adds.
Our international links connect South Africa to the rest of the world through all available routes, and are amplified by our partnerships with the world’s leading global tier 1 IP transit providers such as Level 3 and Cogent.
“This allows us to provide the lowest latency world-class transit services possible to our clients across sub-Saharan Africa. Through our multiple PoPs, we offer remote peering services to international and local exchange points, such as NAPAfrica, LONAP and LINX,” says Lawrence. “Collaboration of this kind ensures the stability, resilience and high quality of our global network.”