Vodacom is setting itself up to be an end-to-end, be-all Tier 1 ISP and all-round connectivity provider.
Speaking at the MyADSL conference, held at Vodaworld, Midrand, yesterday, Vodacom Business managing executive Ermano Quartero outlined the mobile network operator`s broadband plans. This included its intention to become a Tier 1 ISP, providing wholesale local and international connectivity, in both the fixed and mobile arenas.
Vodacom Business, the division established by Vodacom to house all of its connectivity activities, will officially be launched early next year. It will, in addition to the above, be a managed services provider, a corporate access provider (including the last mile) and broadband access provider, Quartero said.
Its second-phase plans include providing managed hosting to corporates and consumers via a 1 200m2 data centre, currently under construction at the Vodacom Campus.
As a Tier 1 ISP, the company will have POPs in London and New York initially, with another POP scheduled to be established in the East at some point. It has 26 POPs in SA, he says. Vodacom Business will provide nomadic broadband access, managed VPNs, managed voice solutions, hosting, and data centre, storage and security services.
On the mobile or nomadic broadband side, Quartero says the company has already rolled out the infrastructure needed to provide HSDPA/HSPA 3.6, but it hasn`t had sufficient backhaul bandwidth to enable the service to run. It will also launch WiMax in April. An initial 120 base stations will be rolled out before launch, with an additional 200 scheduled to be operational by the end of next year.
The company is building metro fibre rings around all of SA`s metros. Gauteng`s is due for completion by April; the other eight will be completed by year-end 2008.
Vodacom Business plans to be able to self-provide international connectivity by the end of 2009. Quartero said the company is also actively pursuing an undersea cable for SA`s West Coast, either as part of a consortium or on its own, although he was unable to provide details at this stage.
Vodafone, he noted, is a major player in the company`s plans, and everything the company has launched internationally will be launched here, for example, the full Vodafone suite and the full BlackBerry suite.
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