Johannesburg, 06 Sep 2021
In the first such partnership between Huawei Cloud and China Telecom, the two companies are collaborating to offer bundled cloud services and connectivity to organisations in South Africa and across the southern African region.
Lori Zhou, Executive: Ecosystem Partner Development for Huawei Cloud says their partner model centres on joint value creation, focusing on building a sustainable ecosystem to support partners and offer value to customers.
“Huawei offers the cloud resource while China Telecom offers the network connectivity and security, enabling both parties to offer one-stop services to the clients in the market. By leveraging China Telecom’s network footprint in Africa, we can also divert the cloud demands from neighbouring countries in southern Africa into South Africa, thus positioning South Africa as a hub of cloud services,” said Zhou.
Elson Lee, Deputy Director of China Telecom (Africa and Middle East), a member of China Telecom Global, says Huawei and China Telecom have partnered on services, solutions and hardware elsewhere in the world, but that the new partnership is the first to offer bundled China Telecom connectivity and Huawei Cloud services.
“This new model is a first for Huawei and China Telecom, and it has been launched in Africa as both companies have local presence in South Africa, and both see opportunities to deliver real value to the markets across this region,” he says.
He notes that cloud uptake is growing fast in the region: “The demand is increasing as people are realising the importance and the benefits of using cloud for their business operations. In addition, the lockdown due to COVID-19, enforcement of the POPIA and the recent unrest in South Africa have made enterprises realise that the use of cloud can help them better protect their business data and maintain the business operations, for example, through e-commence,” he says.
Lee says: “As a key cloud service provider in China, China Telecom also has its own cloud resources globally, with a more than 100-strong cloud resource pool, including Johannesburg. Our strategy is to collaborate with partners, to interconnect with different cloud service providers to offer one-stop service to the clients in the market. The solutions include cloud, network connectivity and security so that the clients can focus on its business operations with China Telecom’s support.
Because of Huawei’s intensive footprint, presence and resources in South Africa and China Telecom’s history of partnering with Huawei, this new collaboration is a perfect match, he says.
This, he notes, is beneficial to stakeholders across the region. Lee believes the partnership will offer lower the set-up and initialisation costs and improved user experience with enhanced local and international network connectivity. Importantly, because both Huawei Cloud and China Telecom have sales and support teams on the ground in South Africa, customers will benefit from personalised and tailored services and support.
“We are confident that the use and demand for cloud across southern Africa will be increased in the near future. This is the reason both Huawei and China Telecom are expanding the cloud and network connectivity resources in South Africa to cater to such demand. We are here to help local businesses grow by using the cloud,” he says.
Follow Huawei Cloud South Africa on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube or e-mail us at huaweicloudsa@huawei.com
Share