Pan-African telecommunications service provider Seacom and Tata Communications said on Monday they have joined forces to offer high-speed, reliable pathways between Africa, Europe and Asia to meet the growing demand for connectivity linking these regions.
The partnership allows both companies to leverage each other's regional and global networks to address enterprises' connectivity requirements. Seacom's dedicated subsea cable system runs up the east coast of Africa and connects to India in Mumbai.
Given Tata Communications' presence in the Indian subcontinent, Seacom customers can connect seamlessly onwards into business hubs like Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore in Asia as well as Marseille, London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam in Europe.
Tata Communications will now leverage Seacom to extend its internet protocol (IP) and global dedicated ethernet (GDE) service platforms into South Africa. Seacom will support Tata Communications' IP and GDE customers across southern and east Africa.
"There has been the technical capability to make this deal for years, but only recently has demand surged between Africa, India and the rest of Asia as a result of recognised market potential," said Seacom's Chief Executive Officer Byron Clatterbuck.
"As one of Seacom's primary objectives to help empower economies on the African continent through best-in-class connectivity and cloud solutions, we are delighted to be working with Tata Communications to enable our customers' borderless growth," he said in a statement.
Vaneet Mehta, Region Head for the Middle East, central Asia and Africa at Tata Communications, said the partnership is a first step towards expanding collaboration across areas such as the internet, multiprotocol label switching, cloud, media and cybersecurity.