Pan-African telecoms enabler Seacom has announced its readiness to launch internet connectivity and cloud services directly to corporates in Kenya.

The company's business services unit, Seacom Business, will leverage Seacom's fibre network to roll out data connectivity and cloud services, including Fibre Internet Access (from 10Mbps up to 1Gbps).

Seacom Business entered the market in October 2015, with executives announcing a five-year plan to generate 70% - 80% of revenue through partnerships, and the intention to scale the business to drive 20% - 30% of revenue.

In March 2016 Seacom Business targeted customers in Cape Town and Durban, South Africa, and in May this year the unit's Head Grant Parker detailed a strategy to develop an automated, self-service, self-managed and self-provisioned channel program in support of what the company described as 'the new-age telco'.

Following Seacom Business' launch a year ago, the division in East Africa has signed up 50 business customers, and appointed 8 corporate partners, split between agents and resellers, to support its drive into the SME market, according Parker.

"Seacom initially focused on bringing low-cost data transmission infrastructure to other service providers in Africa. However, we were not seeing the optimal take-up of our international data capabilities to the end-user market, and the associated benefits that this can bring," said CEO Byron Clatterbuck. "Seacom is now offering its data and other services directly to companies in East Africa, with a focus on our regional and international footprint that other providers lack."

Last mile access will play a crucial role in the delivery of these services as Seacom intends to boost uptake through key partnerships with local and regional fibre providers. Says Clatterbuck, "We have already built out 8 metro points of presence around Nairobi, and this gives us a solid base from which to extend further with our partners. By having our own metro PoPs, we can better manage service quality and network scalability to our growing customer base."

The company is leveraging its undersea cable system and continent-wide IP-MPLS network, as well as the capabilities of its Cloud services, to support corporate cloud adoption in South Africa and East Africa.