Kicking off Telecoms.com’s week-long road trip in South Africa, we’re going to start with Orange’s efforts to improve connectivity in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Orange has opened two large-capacity IP and IPX Points of Presence (PoP) in Cape Town and Johannesburg to enhance Internet and mobile connectivity in the region. The aim of the upgrades will be to offer faster connection speeds and improved reliability for wholesale customers.

“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,” said Pierre-Louis de Guillebon, CEO, International Carriers at Orange

“Thanks to this Point of Presence that will bring content providers closer to Internet users, the customer experience is set to improve.”

The new facilities will build Orange’s presence in the region while also offering wholesale customers numerous benefits including increased capacity and availability, improved quality of service as content will be able to be hosted closer to customers and improved roaming.

While Orange has already has a presence in the African market on the whole, offering access to an IP and IPX PoP connection will give it a better opportunity to compete in the growing South African market. Prior to this announcement, Orange’s position in the African and Middle Eastern markets were held by existing IP and IPX PoPs in Amman and Abidjan.