Tata pushes to make Africa Net routing more direct

Tata Communications is seeking to consolidate its position in Africa by deploying IP (Internet Protocol) infrastructure that will make the routing of Internet traffic much more direct, and less costly, than it is now.

A person in Kenya visiting a Web site in South Africa or Tanzania currently must be routed through the U.S. or Europe, explained Phillippe Duguet, Tata's director of strategic business development in charge of global IP and VPN services.

By eliminating the need for IP traffic to be routed intercontinentally, communications in Africa should be much cheaper, Duguet explained Wednesday on the sidelines of the AfriNIC-9 conference in Port Louis, Mauritius.

In order to interconnect African countries, Tata will provide IP, VPN (Virtual Private Network) and other layer-one services on the continent, Duguet said.

Tata, which holds a substantial stake in the SEACOM cable, has already set up a landing station for the cable in South Africa through second national operator Neotel. The company is negotiating with local partners in East Africa to resell capacity and to establish relations within the region.

"I will be in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in December to meet with partners," Duguet revealed. "It is early to speak about the partners, but the negotiations are ongoing."

Tata will use its existing license arrangements with SEACOM in some countries, but in countries like Kenya, where data licenses are inexpensive, the company will establish its own presence, Duguet added.

Apart from investing financially in SEACOM, Tata is also engaged in engineering and planning work for the cable.