Telecom Namibia is ringing the changes

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Telecom Namibia has entered into an agreement with NewTelco South Africa represented by Jasco Co-location Solutions in a pioneering step aimed at connecting Africa to the world by delivering a much faster and cheaper internet service.

The agreement will also remove the reliance of a number of African telecoms operators on third parties to connect internationally and drive down the cost of communications for the continent.

NewTelco South Africa will establish a total of four international Points of Presence (PoPs) connected into the WACS undersea cable that became active in May 2012.

These PoPs, to be located in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Frankfurt and London, will be procured and built by NewTelco SA for exclusive use by Telecom Namibia.

Also, as part of the agreement, Telecom Namibia, the national fixed and mobile telecoms operator in Namibia, is currently making use of NewTelco’s existing infrastructure until the dedicated infrastructure is built. A number of global carriers are already connected into the service.

 Namibia was the second country to extend the reach of their network into Europe on the WACS cable.

 When selecting a partner, Telecom Namibia went out to tender with a very specific set of criteria that needed to be met.  One of the conditions was for a company with a global reach and existing experience in building PoPs around the world.

Telecom Namibia also required a company skilled at systems integration to bring together products and equipment from a variety of vendors and provide a single point of contact, as well as a partner with the critical mass required to supply infrastructure and provide the use of such infrastructure on a rental basis back to them.

The Jasco Group as a whole is well known for its systems integration expertise, and thanks to NewTelco SA’s partnership with NewTelco GmbH, a German company with co-location hubs in 25 locations including major world capitals and years of global experience, Jasco Co-location Solutions was the ideal partner. 

Eckart Zollner, Business Development Manager for Jasco Co-location Solutions, said: “In order to connect to global telecommunications providers, Telecom Namibia needed space in multiple data centres as well as a company to manage and maintain services.

“NewTelco SA, through our ties to NewTelco GmbH, is perfectly positioned to deliver on Telecom Namibia’s requirements and fulfil this role. Not only will this assist with bringing down the cost of telecommunications, it will also provide cheaper Internet connectivity as Namibia will no longer have to route data traffic through South Africa.” 

Direct routing not only provides more cost effective interconnections, it also enables the operator to offer higher speeds of connectivity at lower prices, as well as better customer service.

Telecom Namibia is now able to manage its own networks and make broadband connectivity more accessible to the Namibian public, helping them to bridge the digital divide and allowing the country to compete on a global stage.

 The strategic location of the four PoPs mean that Telecom Namibia can now offer its customers in South Africa or abroad direct connections to a number of existing and future undersea cable systems such as WACS, SAT3, EASSY, SEACOM, ACE and BRICS. 

 This not only provides for a fault tolerant international service platform, but also provides an opportunity to benefit from an optimised pricing model as traffic can be routed over any of these cable systems.

Oiva Angula, Senior Manager: Corporate Communications and Public Relations at Telecom Namibia, said:  “Jasco Co-location Solutions met all of our criteria, and has delivered the first phase of a solution which will revolutionise telecommunications in Namibia.

“Further phases, such as additional PoPs and the extension of our national infrastructure, will enable us to further extend these services and access new technologies such as Voice over IP and cloud services.”

Pete da Silva, CEO at The Jasco Group, said: “NewTelco is a carrier neutral co-location centre and provider, which means that at every point of presence location there are hundreds of global carriers present. Telecom Namibia can now have its pick of carriers to interconnect with, ensuring that they always receive the best pricing and service levels, which can then be passed on to their customers.”