SEACOM has entered the African enterprise market with connectivity and Cloud services that bring business customers high bandwidth at competitive prices. The launch offerings include Fibre Internet Access with options ranging from 25Mbps up to 1Gbps.
Since a soft launch of its enterprise offering a year ago, the SEACOM Business division is signing up around 20 corporate and SME customers a month and has appointed 20 business partners to support its drive into a new market. The company also launched its Fibre Internet Access service in January 2015.
Unleashing the value of SEACOM for enterprise customers
Byron Clatterbuck, SEACOM’s CEO, says that this is the beginning of SEACOM’s plan to transform Africa’s business connectivity landscape: “In the past, SEACOM 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 capabilities in the marketplace and the benefits that this can bring.”
“We have the network, the skills and the capabilities to unleash the value of our international network directly to corporate users, and see huge benefit for businesses in doing so. We are pleased that the market agrees with us. Our challenge now is to deliver on customer orders and let people experience our incredible service.”
Grant Parker, Head of SEACOM Business, says that SEACOM aims to shake up the enterprise connectivity space by offering businesses high-speed connectivity and quality bandwidth at an affordable cost. 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 businesses in South Africa and East Africa to smoothly transition to the Cloud.
Last-mile access that connects right into the SEACOM infrastructure
SEACOM launched the first broadband submarine cable system along the East African coastline 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.
SEACOM now 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. It has already launched 20 fibre precincts in South Africa and plans to roll out another 40 by the end of the year.
Parker, an industry veteran who has worked for the likes of Internet Solutions and Dimension Data, is leading the SEACOM enterprise push. “SEACOM started out as a wholesale provider of international bandwidth, but the time is right for us to diversify our business into the enterprise market with a set of focused offerings including last-mile fibre and private networks,” says Parker.
A lean and focused approach
Says Parker: “We will address some top-tier clients through a direct sales strategy, but our intention is to address most of the business market in partnership with leading service providers. Our operation will be lean and focused. There is a real hunger in the market for affordable, high quality fibre connectivity as well as for private and outsourced network solutions, and we’re well positioned to service this market with the assets we own and manage.”
SEACOM’s business offering includes the following:
· Internet Access provides customers with high-speed access to the Internet through multiple global tier 1 providers, a mesh of subsea and terrestrial routes as well as optimised routing to many key African operators, service providers and content delivery networks.
· Ethernet services offer dedicated, transparent, EoMPLS layer-2 virtual private networking (VPN) connectivity across SEACOM’s network and onwards through our international partner networks.
· Private Line Services give clients secure, dedicated, low-latency connectivity across multiple cable systems connecting Africa, Europe and Asia, as well as national to key interconnection points in Africa.
· Cloud services – Hosted mail, online backup, end-point protection, virtual hosting and other Cloud services provide customers with the ability to leverage the Cloud to improve business processes and reduce costs.
“Our first customers are pleased with the offerings we have brought to market, and we are getting many new business referrals from them,” says Parker. “We’re aiming to offer the South African corporate and SME markets a killer experience at the right cost, and in so doing, transform the market as we did when we launched our submarine cable system six years ago.”
