BT targets job creation, double connections in SA
BT, a global provider of communications services and solutions, is in the process of hiring in South Africa as it aims to double its customer sites in the country over the next three years.
The group unveiled plans to double its business across Turkey, the Middle East and Africa, at an event in Parktown this week. Keith Matthews, BT’s GM for Sub Saharan Africa, said that BT had already begun hiring professionals for its sub-Saharan Africa office, based in Johannesburg.
The group hopes to double its current team to 200, and would add 170 employees across the region in the near term.
Keith Matthews, BT’s GM for Sub-Saharan Africa
According to BT’s research, the addressable market in Turkey, the Middle East and Africa was worth a combined £5.4 billion in 2011. IT spending growth across the regions is expected to top 10% in 2012.
The UK-based telecoms firm, which celebrates its 20 year anniversary as a presence in South Africa, says it hopes to connect 6,000 customer sites across the region, and double its current connections in SA to 2,000 over the next three years.
BT noted that it already serves around 600 large organisations in the regions.
The cost of the initiative was not given by the group’s executives in Parktown – however, they said that it would come out of the group’s overall £500 million capex spend earmarked in 2011.
In terms of infrastructure development, BT said it would not invest in the consumer telecoms market; something it only did in its home territory.
BT has partnered with local company, FibreCo Telecommunications; investment group, Convergence Partners; DiData subsidiary, Internet Solutions; and is part of an initiative with mobile operator Cell C – to access fibre linking Cape Town to Johannesburg.
FibreCo’s network, however, is still under construction, with Matthews noting “good progress,” despite his confession of not knowing exactly where the roll-out was in terms of its exact location.
BT Group said it already had a co-location facility in Melkbosstrand, the landing site for the sub-sea Sat-3 cable.
The group added that it had a partnership agreement with Teraco data centre in Cape Town.
BT was also looking at an additional link in Yzerfontein, the landing site for the West African Cable System (WACS), which is scheduled for commercial service in the first half of this year.
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