Today, Orange (www.Orange.com) has opened two very large-capacity IP and IPX Points of Presence (PoP) in South Africa. The facilities, which are located in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa are operational from today and will enhance Internet and mobile connectivity in the region by offering faster connection speeds and improved reliability for wholesale customers.

IP and IPX Points of Presence are part of the technical infrastructure equipment necessary to enable local operators to access the Internet & mobile services through an interconnection point with long-distance networks.

By offering access to an IP and IPX PoP connection, Orange is providing wholesale customers, notably telecoms operators and ISPs across the region, with the following advantages:

• High Capacity
• Resiliency and High-availability: 3 routes with protected backbone network (including access to submarine cables SAT3 and EASSY/SMW5; ACE to be added soon)
• Supported by Orange-owned international assets
• Improve QoS by providing delivery content closer to customers
• Optimize Mobile Services QoS
• Improve roaming: avoids unnecessary traffic going back & forth to Europe by local processing.

Customer Benefits

Orange is the first operator capable of offering reliable, high quality, secure connections for the wholesale market around the continent of Africa to support the huge rise in IP and IPX traffic in this area. This fully redundant IP and IPX PoP is a secure solution that will help facilitate the development of this region. Orange is now able to offer reliable, high-quality connections for African countries surrounding South Africa.

Orange already holds a strategic position in this field in Africa and the Middle East, thanks to its existing IP and IPX PoPs in Amman and Abidjan. Following the launch of these two new IP and IPX PoPs in South Africa, Orange will now be able to fully address the market’s needs. Orange offers a complete range of services to customers wishing to connect to the South African IP and IPX PoPs, including, notably, a range of high-end value added services.

“By connecting to this very large-capacity PoP, wholesale customers, regional operators and Internet Service Providers will benefit from cost-effective connections to a Tier 1 operator. Thanks to this Point of Presence that will bring content providers closer to Internet users, the customer experience is set to improve.” said Pierre-Louis de Guillebon, CEO, International Carriers, Orange.

With the opening of this new PoPs, Orange has now enhanced its position as a major Internet and mobile services connectivity enabler in South Africa, where capacity is constantly increasing.