Dimension Data and French telecoms giant Orange have entered into a partnership targeting gamers on the African continent.

The companies say this will enable Orange to provide improved latency for the gaming community in Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, Reunion Island, via its South African point of presence (POP).

They note the deal signifies a significant change to Internet service provisioning in Africa which is usually bought from Europe.

According to the companies, there needs to be a significant improvement in the quality and latency of Internet connectivity, which is crucial to improving the region’s online gaming experience.

Dimension Data already supplies gaming services to a large gaming community on the African continent and with this move, it says it becomes the first local Internet service provider to purchase Internet Protocol (IP) transit services from Orange in SA.

“Partnering with Orange to provide IP transit and DDoS [distributed denial of service] will allow us to continue adding value to our customers through our intelligent infrastructure offering,” says Setumo Mohapi, chief go-to-market officer at Dimension Data.

“It is through this interconnectedness of systems, tools, processes and people, that we enable organisations to achieve greater success using intelligent technology and services. This is the future of the business of technology.”

Orange says it continues to accelerate its investment and development of connectivity on the African continent, with IP POPs in Lagos, Ghana, Abidjan, Cape Town and Johannesburg, and is also developing a new international infrastructure linking eight West African countries.

Emmanuel Rochas, CEO of Orange International Carriers, says: “The Orange partnership with Dimension Data will bring big improvements to our customer experience, especially in the African and Indian Ocean regions where there is a large number of gamers.

“Orange already has some of the world’s biggest gaming providers on its global network. Through this partnership, not only do we want to provide a better gaming experience, but we also hope to enhance the Orange reputation with the international gaming community.”