Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 16 | Page 63

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling POWERED BY IVORY COAST AUTHORITIES BELIEVE THAT THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FOURTH CABLE AUTHORISED BY THE GOVERNMENT WILL IMPROVE THE INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIVITY OF THE COUNTRY. Funke Opeke, Chief Executive Officer at MainOne improvement of international connectivity,” said Koné. “MainOne cable will have an impact on price and quality and will strengthen the security of our infrastructure.” The entry of MainOne, an open-access connectivity services provider will further MAINONE HAS OBTAINED THE LICENCE AND WILL COMMENCE THE CONSTRUCTION OF ITS DIGITAL TRANSMISSION CABLE IN JUNE 2018. democratise the international bandwidth market in Ivory Coast and neighbouring countries and drive down bandwidth costs for local Internet Service Providers, Telcos www.intelligentcio.com and indigenous businesses. “Ivory Coast is the largest economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and a very important hub for business and transport in West Africa,” said Funke Opeke, Chief Executive Officer at MainOne. “The dynamism of the national economy and accelerated development of the digital economy in Ivory Coast as well as its regional leadership makes it a natural hub for the West African region and guided MainOne’s decision to invest in Ivory Coast.” As part of an overarching plan to invest close to US$20 million in the country with a focus on the provision of wholesale connectivity services, MainOne has obtained the licence and will commence the construction of its digital transmission cable in June 2018, to be concluded in the second half of 2019. Its cable landing will provide open access infrastructure within Ivory Coast and other WAEMU countries to expand Internet access for all users in the region and support rapid development, as well as facilitate increased non-resources trade and improve public services to aid the evolution of regional businesses. “By investing and encouraging the business ecosystem within West Africa, we hope to bring meaningful technology solutions to businesses to enable them in their quest for improved productivity and efficiency through dedicated and reliable connectivity services,” added Opeke. “We are prepared to collaborate with incumbent operators towards enhancing regional integration and global access.” MainOne is committed to deepening broadband access via fibre infrastructure and data centres across West Africa. With service delivery in 10 countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo, Cameroon, Benin, Niger, Senegal and Chad, MainOne operates a 100G international submarine cable system which guarantees highly reliable connectivity to support the growing demand for Internet access and bandwidth-intensive applications, such as eCommerce, content providers, OTT players and electronic banking and payment services via 3/4G mobile networks. The MainOne submarine cable was the first privately owned cable in West Africa spanning 7,000km with a capacity of 4.96 TBPS to connect West Africa to Europe via a landing in Portugal and multiple routes to London, Paris and Amsterdam. n INTELLIGENTCIO 63