Africa's bold enterprise-telecom goals

If you have been reading my earlier Industry Insights, you already know mobile network operators (MNOs) and other carriers in Africa are quickly moving into the enterprise space to supplement the revenues from their consumer franchises.

For example, a number of deals have been announced in the last month for African operators to extend Internet, VPN and MPLS services for offshore companies and across the continent.

Just as MTN did in February, Phase3 Telecom of Nigeria has inked a deal with PCCW Global to terminate Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) services from around the world for corporate and institutional clients looking for a truly global solution, according to Phase3 Telecom CEO Stanley Jegede.

In addition, Phase3 will get access to PCCW Global's MPLS network in major African cities, including Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg, Maputo and Nairobi, as well as 3 000 other cities around the world.

Meanwhile, over in Ghana, Tigo has established connection to the Ghana Internet Exchange to enable MNOs and Internet service providers (ISPs) there to more easily exchange traffic among themselves. Prior to this, Internet traffic from Ghana MNOs and ISPs had to travel all the way to the Internet exchange in the United Kingdom and then return. This caused massive delays in Web page loading and made bandwidth-intensive and real-time services such as audio and video streaming and webinars from impractical to near-impossible. And it now makes it plausible for e-commerce providers to set up operations in the country, as well.

Even more important, Tigo has the ability to enhance cyber security for its users, catching more spam and phishing incidents of username/password theft, credit card fraud and links to Web sites that are infected with viruses or malware, which could corrupt or erase data from users' computers. Business enterprises will appreciate the heightened protection even more than consumers will. Overall, Tigo can now virtually guarantee maximum cyber security for all its customers.

However, not all the action is occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. In Libya, Trans-Sahara IT & Communications established a new brand of "business-focused" ISP services. Operating under the moniker "1st NET", the ISP will offer VPN data links, corporate service level agreements and dedicated leased line services. Eventually, Trans-Sahara will also provision international leased lines and hosting services, making it a very attractive outlet for multinationals looking for a toehold in North Africa. Based on its previous history as an integrator of IT and ICT solutions for large corporations, the company sees an emerging opportunity to move into the enterprise-telecom space, and therefore has acquired a set of operating licences in order to do so.

On the other hand, the market for mobile services to support business enterprises is diverging in different directions. Just last month, Hershey Company, the US-based chocolate confectioner, released the results of a three-year evaluation of its Mobile Agriculture (M-Agric) platform. Going by the name Cocoalink, Hershey uses this M-Agric application to connect to cocoa farmers across Ghana. Up to 45 000 registered farmers use Cocoalink to get updates on planting, weeding, harvesting, pesticides, fertiliser application and more. The payoff: cocoa yields have gone up almost 46% over that three-year period. Through SMS text messages, voicemails and a two-way communications feature for quick expert Q&A, Hershey is able to leverage its mobile platform and empower the local farmers to increase the returns on their livelihoods.

Also in Ghana, the post, electricity, water, police and other government service organisations have merged their data and voice operations onto a common telecoms platform. The Ghana Ministry of Communications (MOC) will house the consolidated telecom platform. The next step will be to integrate LTE functionality with the rollout of a mobile network infrastructure.

To achieve maximum functionality and cost-effectiveness for government wireless services through this LTE rollout, the Ghana MOC will need to enable a range of new IP and VPN services for mobile backhaul and enterprise applications. Normally, this would require adding expensive, standalone IP/MPLS routers.

The real beauty of the microwave router is its ability to accommodate the unexpected.

Alternately, agencies like Ghana MOC could look to a microwave router solution that comprises the functionality of the microwave radios it already needs for LTE backhaul and that of regular IP routers. By selecting a solution that integrates the features of a microwave radio and an IP router into one device, the ministry can reduce the total number of devices it will have to provision at each LTE site, saving a lot of space and money in the process.

According to Edward Gubbins, senior analyst at telecom and IT consultancy Current Analysis, integrated capabilities can help simplify delivery of microwave radio and IP services, allowing it to meet customers' needs more quickly.

The real beauty of the microwave router is its ability to accommodate the unexpected. By being able to provision VPN services at the mobile network edge, MNOs or other operators can handle unforeseen and urgent business demands with a microwave router. For example, corporate customer IT departments would be able to conveniently change the number of authorised employees able to use the mobile VPN. Based on this capability, corporations can establish "mobile offices" able to support applications for secure document access, sales order processing, and bank and other financial transactions as well as even-more mission-critical applications.

For rural or remote enterprises in Africa, where the mobile Web is the only game in town, that means mobile operators will be able to offer the same level of security and control to them that their urban competitors enjoy. It is a win-win situation for rural African enterprises and a win for the African mobile providers that can generate greater revenues for value-added services.