MTN Network Solutions (NS) has improved its capacity to meet increasing demand for broadband access.
A media statement says the group has installed a second 45Mb circuit between Johannesburg and New York. MTN NS has also commissioned a second 45Mb circuit on the SAT-3 cable from Telkom and British Telecom.
The company has also upgraded its London point of presence (POP) infrastructure and commissioned a POP in New York. The POP provides alternative routing from Sisembra in Portugal and enables IP-VPN services to terminate directly in the US.
"The upgrading of the MTN NS London POP was also done in preparation for bringing a number of MTN African operations onto a single international infrastructure, as well as building a full Africa MPLS IP-VPN network," says MTN NS CEO Mike Brierley.
Brierley says MTN is now ideally positioned to offer customers carrier-class broadband which gives them flexibility in their networks, runs multimedia applications like voice over IP and has advanced functionality.
MTN`s 3G performed badly last year during tests conducted by MyADSL and Johannesburg University. The study involved in-depth testing of broadband services available in SA, including Telkom`s ADSL, Sentech`s MyWireless, Vodacom`s 3G, WBS`s iBurst and MTN`s 3G packages.
More than 50 000 diagnostic tests were performed to gather data about 60 different aspects of each service, including cost, reliability, speed and general service levels. MTN`s 3G was rated last with a 30% performance score.
Submarine cable interest
According to the MTN NS media statement, the SAT-3 cable remains the best way of connecting internationally until the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (Eassy) Network and the West African submarine cable are commissioned.
"In anticipation of vastly improved resilience, MTN has taken an interest in both these new cable installations," Brierley says.
The Eassy working group and project management committees have been in conference in Johannesburg since yesterday. Hosted by Sentech, the seven-day conference brought together delegates from more than 20 telecoms operators from Africa, Europe and the Americas.
According to John Sihra, Eassy project coordinator, the working group will make an announcement following the deliberations, which end on 31 January. He also notes that Eassy will go into service in the second half of 2007.
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African submarine cable network set for 2007
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