African countries to get MPLS networks

MTN Business has been awarded the tender to deliver a fully managed MPLS network to the branch offices of Metropolitan in Botswana and Namibia, to ensure the financial services provider delivers centralised communication for these 17 branches back to its head office in Cape Town.

‚Metropolitan undertook a lengthy RFP process to ensure that the provider chosen to manage our voice and data traffic could not only offer an efficient and faster service overall, but could deliver full in-country support while offering us the ability to reach into the rest of Africa,‚ says Gerhard van Rensberg, Group Technology Services Manager at Metropolitan. ‚MTN Business was chosen as our preferred service provider, as not only can they deliver a true in-country terrestrial MPLS solution, which many other service providers are unable to undertake at present, but they also have a strong presence into Africa, which is important to us, considering we have further branch offices in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho and iSwaziland.‚

The project, which is set to be completed by the end of September 2010 includes linking 3 branch offices in Botswana and 14 in Namibia to Metropolitan’s head office in Cape Town. Says, Angela Gahagan, Managing Executive at MTN Business: prior to the implementation of this solution, Metropolitan ran a point-to-point network, which was fully managed and maintained internally. ‚However, through our MPLS solution, we can offer the company full voice and data in-country support and management, ensuring a high Quality of Service and enhance the speed and reliability of their network.‚

‚As we have invested in in-country skills and support, as well as a full MPLS network in Africa, we are able to offer organisations, like Metropolitan, a far more cost effective solution that enables businesses to reduce their CAPEX spending as they are able to leverage off the MTN Business infrastructure. Furthermore, as Metropolitan are working with one service provider for the delivery and management of their network in Africa, they minimise administration complexities and enjoy single, consolidated support and billing structures,‚ adds Gahagan.

Currently MTN Business is in further discussion with Metropolitan to extend its MPLS offering to the other branch offices in Africa. ‚By building partnerships into Africa, we believe companies will succeed in their market extension and reach. We are excited to be working with Metropolitan and certainly our MPLS offering is set to deliver strong communication links, together with solid returns to the company,‚ concludes Gahagan.