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<H1 class=headline>Africa: Tata to capitalise on sea cable for growth in Africa</H1>
<P class=reporter>Simon Mundy</P>
<P class=date>9 March 2010</P>
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<H1 class=headline><FONT size=2>Johannesburg — GLOBAL telecoms giant Tata Communications was set to increase its investments in Africa to capitalise on the arrival of new submarine data cables, CEO Srinath Narasimhan said last week.</FONT></H1>
Speaking to Business Day at Tata' s Global Media Summit in London, Narasimhan said the launch of the West African Cable System (WACS) - a high-speed communications cable running from SA to the UK that is expected to become operational next year - would lead to Tata "opening up more opportunities on the west coast of Africa".<BR>
The world's largest wholesale international voice carrier, Tata has hitherto made few significant investments on the continent beyond a 56% stake in SA' s fixed-line operator Neotel.<BR>
"There's not the infrastructure in place yet to deliver a full portfolio of services in west Africa," Narasimhan said. "But we will have that once the WACS cable comes into operation."<BR>
The company had already begun pursuing opportunities in Kenya and Tanzania following last year's launch of the Seacom cable, established by a consortium including Tata.<BR>
"We'll start with wholesale services, setting up a point of presence for IP (internet protocol), Ethernet or clear bandwidth, depending on what the customers want," Narasimhan said.<BR>
Angel Dobardziev, an analyst at consultancy Ovum, told the summit he expected voice traffic would still contribute 85% of telecoms revenue in Africa in 2014 - a higher proportion than in any other region.<BR>
But Narasimhan saw strong potential for growth in data and managed services .<BR>
The continuing dominance of voice services was "historical - due to not having enough connectivity. It's more a supply issue now, than one of demand - the demand is very much there."<BR>
Neotel was set to benefit from Tata 's drive to strengthen its managed services component, said Narasimhan - notably through the parent company's focus on telepresence, an advanced form of videoconferencing. The first service provider to launch public-room telepresence services, in July 2008, Tata operates 13 locations worldwide, including one at Neotel's Johannesburg headquarters. It expects to open 25 more this year.<BR>
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Source : businessday<BR> <br /><hr />Hotmail : une messagerie performante et gratuite avec une sécurité signée Microsoft <a href='https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969' target='_new'>Profitez-en</a></body>
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