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Cisco targets public sector, telcos for growth

Jon Tullett
By Jon Tullett, Editor: News analysis
Johannesburg, 05 Mar 2013
Alpheus Mangale, MD of Cisco South Africa.
Alpheus Mangale, MD of Cisco South Africa.

Cisco South Africa will take steps to align itself more closely with the needs of the country, including education development and public sector projects. Alpheus Mangale, MD of Cisco South Africa, laid out his goals at the Cisco Expo South Africa 2013, in Sun City, this week.

Mangale expects plenty of business to come from the public sector. "In government, there are ambitious goals to connect South Africans with universal broadband and new services. Improving healthcare, public services - every department is making investments."

Education is a major area of focus for Cisco, with its networking academy, community knowledge centres and similar programmes aimed at increasing the level of ICT skills. Mangale hopes to create partnerships to extend those programmes.

"Having broadband connecting schools is meaningless without an ecosystem in place delivering content and partnerships. A big obstacle is the tutors; they're not equipped to use the tools that are available."

Mangale said he hopes to see the reestablishment of a national ICT advisory council this year. "I expect to see [ANC deputy president] Cyril Ramaphosa driving it, and we want to take an active role in that council."

The telcos are also on Cisco's radar. "There will be major opportunities in SA in telecoms as the carrier networks continue to move to IP," he said, and the government's plan to extend broadband Internet to 100% of the population by 2020 will create opportunities for networking companies. But this will require greater government involvement, he said.

"Telcos aren't going to gravitate to rural areas. That's never happened, not anywhere in the world. The only way we can get to 100% broadband penetration is through public/private partnerships."

Taking on the continent

Many other countries across Africa are generating opportunities in the ICT space, Mangale said. "Look at how other countries in Africa are using ICT to accelerate their economies."

Mangale showed a world map contrasting population density and active IP addresses. "In Africa, there are many people, but few IP addresses," he said. "There's a wonderful opportunity for us to change the lives of people living in countries with low Internet penetration."

The perception of Africa as largely rural, with the associated telecoms challenges, is mistaken, says Rob Abraham, CEO of Bytes. "Africa has as many cities with over a million people as Europe. And Africa's cloud data is growing faster than other territories."

Bytes is expanding its presence in Africa, frequently following the demands of its multinational customers as they expand across the continent. The company is aggressively opening new offices and establishing certified partners to extend its geographic reach, Abraham said.

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