Cassava Technologies and AXON Networks are collaborating to co-develop, deploy, and manage an end-to-end Operator-As-a-Service (OaaS) platform in a bid to unlock Africa's artificial intelligence (AI) and digital future.
According to a statement, the plan was announced during the Counder Conference 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa.
The conference exists to connect visionary leaders, bridge new and established perspectives, and craft meaningful collaborations that shape future’s most important opportunities.
The alliance said it will allow customers and service providers to leverage AXON’s AI-ready, digital twin-enabled platform across Cassava’s high-speed fibre backbone to connect millions of people and businesses across the region and avail new pathways for economic development and innovation.
Cassava pointed out that the partnership comes as businesses of different sizes continue to digitise their operations, with the need for cost-effective, flexible, high-performance network solutions that reduce time-consuming manual design and configurations rising.
By collaborating with AXON, the company said it is moving beyond traditional hardware-centric infrastructure to establish a programmable, AI-managed network that will drastically cut operational costs while increasing access to customers and service providers.
It went on to add that this AI-first connectivity platform is the foundation for accelerating digital transformation for African businesses, including other telecommunications service providers.
The OaaS platform will deliver secure, private, high-speed data infrastructure, enabling mobile network operators, LEO satellite providers and internet service providers with agility, intelligence, and reach, said Cassava.
“We’re not just mirroring networks — we’re virtualising an entire infrastructure into a live AI-driven ecosystem that will leverage this extensive backbone, including Cassava’s planned AI-powered factory, to bring growth, prosperity, and the promise of AI sovereignty to Africa and its people,” said Martin Manniche, CEO and founder of AXON.
Hardy Pemhiwa, president and group CEO of Cassava, added: “This transformation allows us to treat our pan-continental fibre network as a dynamic digital platform, enabling us to provision and modify customer networks in near real-time, rather than days or weeks.”
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