Company Announcement - Pan-African service provider, Gondwana International Networks, parent company to Africa Online, has announced that it will be expanding its VSAT services in Tanzania as well as launching a managed infrastructure and services solution called iManage. Africa Online was acquired by GIN in December 2013 and remains one of the leading African ISPs.

Winston Smith, General Manager, Terrestrial Services for GIN and Africa Online, says that the Group sees tremendous potential in the East African territories and together with its subsidiaries in Kenya and Uganda, which views Tanzania being as a key growth sector: “We have a licensed terrestrial wireless and VSAT networks in Dar es Salaam and have significant plans to grow and expand it.” The Tanzania business will leverage on Group capabilities and synergies in Technology, Networks and Skills to drive its Tanzanian expansion plan.

“Africa Online is very excited about the VSAT expansion in Tanzanian in both the consumer and enterprise markets. VSAT offers easy to deploy connectivity solutions, which compete very favourably with other terrestrial offerings like DSL and fibre. The extensive reach and coverage of multiple satellites operated by GIN provides connectivity in both metropolitan and rural markets across the extent of Tanzania. The Company has rolled out a 'free equipment' promotion to aid customers service uptake by bringing the service within the reach of many users.

Smith says GIN has also successfully launched its iManage hosted solution in six other African countries and will be rolling this service out in Tanzania: “There is significant demand for level three managed services support as cloud simply cannot deliver on its own.”

Africa Online is well placed to offer these additional services. With almost two decades of experience in this market and a solid reputation as one of Africa’s top ISPs, Smith says he is excited about growing this well-established business and introducing more services.

With the iManage suite of value-added services, Africa Online has packaged an excellent combination of software and infrastructure as a service, which compliments its connectivity solutions as well as serving customers on other access networks.  This means that customers don’t procure hardware, and as a result have no upfront cost. This gives customers the best of the cloud with essential managed services on the ground,” says Kenneth Munyi, Managing Director, Africa Online.

Munyi says the Tanzania business already offers comprehensive products and services that ensure reliable, convenient and secure connectivity.  “Through its International Access Solutions, Africa Online facilitates effective communication for its customers locally, regionally and globally.. Our products and solutions include Broadband Wireless, MPLS, VSAT, hosting, mail services, domains and disaster recovery solutions.