Now under the full ownership and control of Seacom, the metro fibre network formerly belonging to Hirani Telecom will now be incorporated into Seacom’s existing metro network in Nairobi.
The news forms part of Seacom’s ongoing strategy to grow its on-net capabilities and provide its enterprise customers with top tier connectivity in the region. As such the acquisition of Hirani Telecom supports these objectives as one of Kenya’s fastest-growing triple-play service providers and the largest last-mile provider in the region.
“This is a first step towards ensuring we can provide end-to-end solutions for our customers across the region. We will be able to offer more competitive services, bring new, innovative solutions to market faster, and guarantee the highest quality of connectivity and service delivery," said Steve Briggs, chief sales and marketing officer at Seacom.
“The acquisition of Hirani’s metro fibre network dramatically boosts Seacom’s operations and sets the stage for the expansion of our business services in the region. The world is rapidly changing, and customers need the service, quality, and availability that Seacom is known for providing.”
Hirani's assets include two purpose-built, carrier-neutral national metro networks. The first, which is to be kept by Hirani for continued operations, is used to service its home users with Internet and content.
The second network, which is being acquired by Seacom, will be solely dedicated to Seacom’s enterprise customers and the company confirms there will be no disruption or customer migration.
“Seacom Kenya has been using Hirani’s metro network to provide last-mile services to our enterprise customers. As the only provider on this network, it was a natural progression for us to buy the network and cut out the middleman," said Oliver Fortuin (pictured), CEO of Seacom Group.
"This will give us a competitive advantage in the market and will enable us to offer our customers better services, and tailored solutions. We already connect Kenya to the rest of the world, and now our Nairobi customers will be able to connect directly to the source. The expansion will also open up new markets for us.”
In related news, earlier this month NETSCOUT was selected by Seacom to provide managed DDoS and security services to enterprise customers in Kenya and South Africa.
