MTN Business in partnership with Microsoft unveiled a pan-African cloud platform in Johannesburg today.
The cloud platform will offer businesses hybrid cloud solutions services from MTN's data centre, powered by Microsoft.
According to Alpheus Mangale, chief enterprise officer for MTN Business SA, through the partnership MTN will bring Azure services to all African markets through its data centres across the continent.
The company has made significant investments in data centre infrastructure throughout Africa and the Middle East, he said.
He pointed out MTN has about 47 data centres across Africa and there are not many companies with that footprint. Also, MTN also has robust, carrier-grade multi-protocol label switching with network which has 23 points of presence across the globe connecting these data centres.
"One can talk about cloud but if you do not have the data centre infrastructure to run the cloud platform or solutions on you are not going to get off the ground."
It is clear across the industry that telecom companies are not performing - and for that reason, MTN has decided to have a strong focus on building new revenue streams, says Mteto Nyati, CEO at MTN SA.
Going forward, partnerships are going to be part of the DNA of the company, he added.
"The problems that we have to solve are so complex they require us to reach to others who can bring capabilities that we can't - we may have the vision, but not all the answers."
The partnership will enable Microsoft's cloud services to reach widely into South Africa and into Africa, said Zoaib Hoosen, MD at Microsoft SA.
According to Hoosen, there has been much talk about industry disruption, but there has been technology disruption as well. Businesses are dealing with these disruptions and are transforming to become digital businesses, he added.
Hoosen noted these digital companies require agility, speed and innovation which are provided by the cloud.
"We have laid out a strategy that will ensure we will become the end-to-end provider of enterprise ICT services, said Nyati.
The new strategy will concentrate on geographic expansion, government-to-citizen engagement and digital inclusion, he concluded.
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