Telkom subsidiary BCX has expanded its partnership with Chinese multinational technology company Alibaba Cloud beyond local borders, launching the Africa Local Public (ALP) Cloud services in Mozambique.
The companies say they aim to enhance the technology capabilities of Mozambican firms, across the continent, with low latency and high-efficiency.
The service officially launched locally in October, coming from two Johannesburg-based availability zones: BCX’s Midrand-based data centre and Teraco Data Environment’s Isando-based data centre.
This, after the organisations in 2022 signed a distribution contract to grant BCX exclusive right and authority to distribute Alibaba Cloud’s products and services in SA and across the African markets where the IT services company has a presence.
Making the announcement at the Moztech Conference in Mozambique this week, BCX CEO Jonas Bogoshi stated: “The collaboration between Alibaba Cloud and BCX allows us to bring the latest technologies through a local company that understands the complexities for businesses operating on our continent.
“BCX sets itself apart from competitors by giving priority to a local approach. Recognising the paramount importance of data sovereignty for Mozambican businesses, BCX has installed its latest ALP Cloud in Maputo.”
It is a digital transformation partner for enterprises and public sector organisations across industries and sectors, with a presence in SA, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, UK and Zambia.
The next phase of the ALP Cloud rollout includes setting up a Cape Town-based data centre, with plans to further deploy the service to SMEs, according to customer demand.
Jan Bouwer, chief solutions officer of BCX, said: “We are committed to keeping local data within Africa’s borders. The ALP Cloud not only ensures data remains within Mozambique, addressing data sovereignty and compliance requirements, but also offers redundancy through neighbouring availability zones and on-the-ground local support for customers.”
ALP Cloud services are billed in the local currency, with Bogoshi explaining this mitigates the challenge posed by the unpredictable exchange rate.
“By billing in local currency, BCX ensures cost predictability for African enterprises, facilitating effective management of their cloud service expenses and mitigating the volatility of the exchange rate market.”
The growth of Africa’s cloud sector is leading to more international players choosing to enter the market. Since 2019, SA has seen an influx of tech companies investing in local data centres, including hyperscalers Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services, as well as Teraco, Dimension Data and Huawei.
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