Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 26 | Page 8

NEWS Konnect Africa to conquer Ivorian market for high- speed satellite Internet access Redstor adds new data centre in South Africa Redstor is expanding operations by adding a new data centre in Johannesburg K onnect Africa, an initiative of the satellite operator Eutelsat, has announced the launch of its Internet access offers in Côte d’Ivoire. According to the Telecommunications Sector Observatory of the Telecommunications Regulator/ICT of Côte d’Ivoire (ARTCI), the number of fixed Internet subscribers (Ethernet cable, Wi-Fi and fibre) in Côte d’Ivoire stood at 155,541 in the second quarter of 2018, representing 0.6% of the total population. At the same time, according to Deloitte’s TMT 2017 report, the country has 9 million mobile Internet subscriptions, notably thanks to the 4G network. Some areas of Ivorian territory, however, are not properly served by mobile technology. The Konnect range includes eight Internet access offers, ranging from 5GB to 30GB of data for Konnect Home residential offers, costing from 9,000 to 35,000 CFAF and adapting to all needs. Konnect Pro, which provide superior performance corresponding to the expectations of professionals, offer between 50 and 500GB of data and are marketed from 58,000 CFAF. These offers will be made available on a prepaid basis in order to meet the needs of the Ivorian market. The speeds offered will be up to 20 Mbit/s downstream and up to 3 Mbit/s upstream. For the launch, Konnect Africa is also setting up a promotion on this new range. “Satellite technology for high-speed Internet is the answer for efficient digital coverage in Côte d’Ivoire,” said Jean-Claude Tshipama, CEO of Konnect Africa. “Many ‘white zones; remain and Konnect Africa’s complementary offer addresses this lack of connectivity.” 8 INTELLIGENTCIO R edstor, a leading cloud data management SaaS business with technology developed in South Africa, is expanding operations by adding a new data centre in Johannesburg. The decision to take up a presence in Teraco Data Environments, Isando, follows unprecedented demand for the company’s disruptive data management platform. Paul Evans, CEO and co-founder of Redstor, said: “Businesses are constantly creating more and more data and numerous organisations are recognising great value in Redstor’s pioneering cloud data management service.” Redstor has aggressive growth plans to treble business by 2020 and has invested heavily in data-centre facilities over several years to provide services with enterprise-level availability and resilience. Tom Campbell, Technical Services Director at Redstor, added: “As well as giving us additional capacity for onboarding new customers, the data centre in Johannesburg enhances our coverage and improves our resilience. “We now have stronger geographical separation of data in Africa for continuity purposes.” Redstor provides local services, guaranteeing data sovereignty, regardless of a customer’s location. The company’s long-term strategy to accelerate revenue in Africa was underlined recently by the appointment of Angela Kasandi as a Channel Account Manager at Internet Solutions in Kenya. With on-net connectivity to more than 130 data centres globally, Redstor is now also looking at taking up a presence in a new data centre in Germany and elsewhere in mainland Europe. www.intelligentcio.com