Internet Solutions (IS) claims it will be the first Internet service provider (ISP) to use the 155Mbps STM1 line configuration. Telkom is supplying it with a broadband international private leased-line service on Afrolinque, the sub-marine fibre cable linking SA with Europe and the East.
"We are now in a position to offer our clients a faster and more reliable service than before," says Johann Pretorius, COO of Internet Solutions.
The Afrolinque cable links SA with West Africa and Europe through the SAT3/WASC portions, and with the East through the South Africa Far East (SAFE) portion of the cable. The contract for 155Mbps is valued at R270 million over three years.
The bandwidth will be taken up in two stages; currently in use are two each of 45Mbps, to Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively, with the remainder being deployed in April, to Johannesburg.
According to Pretorius, the reliability and speed of STM1 over the fibre cable will prove to be invaluable to Internet Solutions` more than 4 500 corporate customers, many of whom rely heavily on the Internet to transact business.
"[We] terminate in Cape Town and Johannesburg, which provides us with flexibility to configure our services according to traffic requirements. The fact that Telkom was able to build in backup through the SAFE portion of the cable, providing an alternative route via the East, has made our deal even more attractive," Pretorius adds.
"[This] product offers a lot of added value," says Wally Beelders, managing executive of Telkom International and Special Markets.
"The service is monitored 24 hours a day from our national network operations centre in Centurion. We act as a single point of contact, facilitating single-end ordering and billing, taking care of the service from SA to the terminating point, which in the case of Internet Solutions is in the US."
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