AFRICA – Telecoms company Seacom is teaming up with Vodacom Business Africa, the enterprise-focused ICT subsidiary of the Vodacom Group, to establish its footprint in Africa.

The partnership will allow both companies to develop their network connectivity across the continent. On the one hand, Seacom can now service customers and partners beyond East and South Africa. Consequently, Vodacom will solidify its substantial presence across the continent.

The partnership will allow the underwater cable service provider customers to access network footprints in the continent. Seacom plans to use Vodacom’s network in 47 countries to help its customers reach far wide using a single network.

Seacom’s Chief Commercial Officer Steve Briggs says: “Our customers are increasingly looking for network footprints beyond those markets {Kenya and South Africa}.

“Vodacom Business Africa has a network in 47 countries outside of South Africa. The network allows us to put our customers on to their network with a single SLA and a single contract. As such, they get the great Seacom service on someone else’s network; In this case, on Vodacom’s”.

The partnership is an extension of the two companies’ deep history, dating back to 10 years ago when Vodacom was Seacom’s earliest clients.

The two companies seem to have a symbiotic relationship, where Seacom opted to forward corporate customers to Vodacom as the firm expanded to enterprise business.

The Vodacom partnership, among other expansion initiatives, stems from the increasing demand for connectivity across the continent. For instance, some firms invest in big cloud services, the Internet of Things, among other Internet intensive activities.

As a result, Seacom customers to look beyond their home markets, which demands high capacity internet connectivity.

The company aims to take at least 10% of their customers to the rest of the continent through Vodacom. Moreover, the respective brands and marketing capabilities will allow the two companies to wade off competitors.

Since the launch of its Business division, SEACOM has substantially grown its customer and partnership base.

The latest partnership ensures that SEACOM can service customer and partner demands beyond existing markets and across Vodacom’s infrastructure footprint – a significant move given the disruption taking place in the enterprise WAN space with technologies like SD-WAN gaining traction.

Over the years, Vodacom Business Africa has strategically invested in the creation of network capability, supported in its vision by technological partners on the continent.

This move has increased connectivity and driven digital growth within the 47 countries in which Vodacom Business Africa operates.