Namibia gearing for affordable broadband access

16 Feb 2011

The recent landing of the West Africa Cable System (WACS) in Namibia has provided the first direct connection for the country to the global submarine cable network. MTN Business, a subsidiary of the MTN Group, which is a major investor in WACS, looks forward to the completion of the cable which will result in the acceleration of affordable broadband capacity.

Says Manfred Engling, GM of MTN Business Namibia, "The acceleration of affordable broadband capacity and the convergence of information and communication technologies is starting to take root in the Namibian business arena and is rapidly signalling new ways of conducting business. With this historic landing, the playing field has been levelled with the rest of the world, and we hope to see some of the future 'next big' applications come out the local Namibian ICT community."

The landing of WACS in Namibia is a massive milestone towards broadband cost cutting becoming a reality and a key enabler to critical telecoms industry development.

Enabling Namibian organisations

Says Engling: "While it may seem obvious that corporate Namibia wants affordable, reliable services that provide a competitive edge, the only way this will become a reality is when the associated cost savings of bandwidth usage are redistributed into enabling organisations to take advantage of emerging trends such as software-as-a-service, cloud computing and virtualisation - and the time is now."

Says Johnny Aucamp, GM: strategic relations and business development Africa at MTN Business: "MTN Business has invested over US$130 million in alternative undersea cables as part of its vision to ensure that by 2011 operations across the African continent and Middle East escape the stranglehold of procuring unreliable and often expensive international bandwidth."

Not only is the commoditisation of access inevitable, but the growing demand for convergence, network services and cloud computing means local businesses will require more and more bandwidth. Not to mention businesses growth strategies for across the continent. "This will require ISPs to focus their attention on the broader business offering which will fundamentally require a different way of thinking - one that takes into account the continuous changes and demands that are set for this market," concludes Aucamp.