Telstra International teams with Internet Solutions to improve access to Africa

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 25 October 2009 00:41

Business IT - Networking

Telstra International Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) has formed a partnership with South African company, Internet Solutions, that will expand the reach of both parties' MPLS network coverage. In particular it will enable Telstra to provide better connectivity into Africa for its multinational corporate customers.

According to Internet Solutions - a subsidiary of Dimension Data - the agreement will enable it to increase its points of presence globally to support the international expansion needs of locally based corporate customers, and enable it to offer multinational Telstra customers access to an extensive, fast and reliable network throughout South Africa and 10 countries within Africa. Internet Solutions says will be able to connect customers in a further 26 African countries using its VSAT network.

Mark Hamburger, virtual private network general manager at Internet Solutions, said: "Telstra's Global Next IP network has been seamlessly connected to IS' MPLS network through the use of a type B network-to-network interface (NNI), offering customers from both service providers access to a global network through a single connectivity partner. Companies can now utilise an extensive network to set up Internet Protocol (IP) VPNs to seamlessly connect African sites with other global offices.

"The partnership will enable IS to offer multinational connectivity services with access to over 1,200 PoPs around the world through the Telstra International network, which includes Internet Solutions' established PoPs in New York, two in the United Kingdom and one in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong."

He added: "Both parties have a global policy for interconnect resiliency, so we have enabled interconnects in London, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur to ensure the required redundancy. This has ensured IS can extend our MPLS service offerings in the Australasian region and Telstra into the African continent."

Simon Vye, CEO Telstra International EMEA, said: "We selected IS as our preferred partner in Africa as it is the market leader in the region and the largest MPLS provider in sub-Saharan Africa.

 "Africa is becoming increasingly important to our customers as the region develops into a commercial hub, and IS' extensive network footprint and local market knowledge made them the ideal partner. This agreement will enable us to provide our international customers with the same high quality connectivity into Africa that Telstra is known for in other regions of the world."