According to Internet Solutions (IS), the paradigm in the South African broadband market is changing, with the commercial principles behind the Seacom fibre optic undersea cable driving the shift towards a high speed, high capacity Internet connectivity environment.  “Seacom is an important milestone for the local telecommunications industry as it is the first time that South African service providers, other than Telkom, will be able to make a long term investment in the provisioning of high speed, high capacity international connectivity,” says Hillel Shrock, Business Solutions Director at IS. “Previously ISPs had to rely on short term contracts from a single operator to supply fixed line capacity to our customers, which often did not benefit all levels of the value chain.”

 

“IS took an early view that Seacom was an ideal option to back, as it gives us the ability to provide our clients with an alternative connection out of South Africa, which also adds an additional level of redundancy to our aggregated connectivity service offerings,” says Shrock. “With the cable also landing in countries like Kenya and Mozambique, which are key business areas for us on the continent, the investment will also benefit our African business substantially.”

 

“IS is an anchor tenant with Seacom and was in fact the first service provider to secure substantial capacity with Seacom, after signing an indefeasible long term contract in July 2007,” says Brian Herlihy, CEO at Seacom. “By enabling local ISPs, such as IS to secure long-term investments in Seacom we can work together as partners, which will empower service providers to deliver greater value and benefits to the broadband market in Southern Africa.”

 

“The initial working relationship we have developed with Seacom over the last two years is definitely a mutually beneficial one,” continues Shrock. “Contractually and operationally the process has been smooth, with Seacom on track to deliver the cable on schedule, as promised. We will continue to work closely together once Seacom launches to ensure we can iron out any teething issues that may occur during the ‘soak in’ phase, so that we can rapidly move forward and deliver a high speed, high capacity, world class service to the market,” he concludes.