BICS establishes point-of-presence in Johannesburg to increase reach into Africa

Brussels – Belgium, July 16, 2014 – BICS, global provider of international connectivity and interoperability services, has established a point-of-presence (POP) in Johannesburg to offer its operator customers assured quality of interconnect for traffic exchange in Africa, optimising transit routes and lowering latency.

The BICS POP will be located in facilities provided by South African data centre company Teraco, which works with major fixed-line and wireless carriers in the country. The deployment will not only improve interconnectivity to existing customers, but also increase the availability of the BICS MOSAIC suite of solutions to operators and ISPs within the region. BICS’ portfolio of over 60 solutions addresses the connectivity and hubbing needs of communications providers worldwide.

The Johannesburg POP is the latest milestone marking BICS’ sustained investment to address the needs of African communications providers. It follows the establishment of its Dubai POP with provider Equinix in March covering Northern Africa; and the foundation of its East Africa Gateway in Djibouti last year. BICS also enhanced its investment in the region during 2013 by opening three new offices in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.

BICS SVP Capacity Business Management, Johan Wouters, said: “Establishing the Johannesburg POP in partnership with Teraco is an important step in increasing transit efficiency in Southern Africa. We will continue to evolve our infrastructure to provide the highest level of connectivity with the lowest latency to our customers. 

“Africa is a key market for BICS and this agreement further emphasises our commitment to the region by offering market-leading connectivity services to communication providers across the continent.”   

Lex van Wyk, CEO of Teraco added: “We are delighted to partner with BICS to host its POP in South Africa and help meet its expansion goals in Africa. Using infrastructure built on the networks of major carriers in the country, BICS will be able to further enhance its ability to provide high speed interconnection with regional and global carriers.”