Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 28 | Page 7

NEWS AfricaOnline Ghana launches high-speed broadband satellite service A fricaOnline, one of Ghana’s oldest ISPs and a Gondwana International Networks (GIN) subsidiary, has announced the launch of its new JOLA service, a high- speed broadband satellite service powered by Avanti’s HYLAS4 satellite that offers 100% coverage in Ghana through multiple spot beams. The launch opens up new opportunities for delivering on development goals of the nation by ensuring many more sectors of the population becoming connected. “We are proud to be the first to launch the Avanti HYLAS4 service in Ghana,” said Foster Plender, Managing Director for AfricaOnline Ghana. “Our rigorous testing over the past few months has given us the confidence that our customers will be very satisfied with the quality of service and speeds of up to 35Mbps download.” Plender presented examples from across the GIN group of Ka-Band JOLA solutions at the launch, meeting the needs of rural judiciary courts, agriculture services, eLearning initiatives, remote hospitality lodges, micro-finance institutions and CCTV and Machine2Machine (M2M) applications for construction and national manufacturing plants. GIN, through its subsidiary, iWayAfrica, has partnered with Avanti since 2014 for the rollout of high- speed satellite services in southern and eastern Africa. Last August, the group was granted Master Distributor status for its new service on the latest satellite, HYLAS4 with new market focus on West and Central Africa. ///////////////// Data highway expands rapidly through Africa P aratus Africa has announced it has activated additional capacity between West Africa Undersea Cable System (WACS) and Lusaka, Zambia. This follows the recent Paratus Trans Kalahari Fiber project that was built between the WACS landing station in Swakopmund and the Zambian Sesheke border. Within the group, Paratus Zambia is the first to take full advantage of the Trans Kalahari Fiber project. The company now carries this capacity as far north as the town of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “Our primary focus has been to establish our own infrastructure and this is vital to ensure that our operations are able to provide the best customer experience,” said Paratus Group CEO Barney Harmse. Paratus Zambia Country Manager Marius van Vuuren says the project sets them apart from their competitors and allows them to leverage the fibre network they are installing in Zambia. He said: “Joined with the back-haul network through Namibia, we are now able to provide more options to our client base. With the group being able to provide back-haul, metro and various access options, we are more competitive and more ready to service our pan-African client base.” Harmse added: “We have already earmarked various infrastructure investment projects and are stringently investigating the viability. We are confident that by continuing our investment strategy, Paratus Africa will become the preferred pan-African operator.” www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 7