Tejpal Bedi, Managing Director and Regional Head of Sales for Seacom ENEA.

Pan-African telecommunications service provider Seacom has announced it will acquire “selected infrastructure assets” from Africell in Uganda for an undisclosed amount.

East Africa region remains a key focus area for Seacom which recently acquired Kenyan service provider Hirani Telecom’s metro fibre network.

“East Africa has been an important market for Seacom ever since we first arrived on the shores of Mombasa in 2009,” explained Tejpal Bedi, Managing Director and Regional Head of Sales for Seacom ENEA. "By officially establishing ourselves in Uganda through proprietary facilities and resources, we are prioritising widespread connectivity and opening up opportunities to work with businesses in search of quality Internet services.”

According to Seacom it is poised to take over a comprehensive portfolio of infrastructure essential for connecting enterprise customers. This includes 760 kilometres of fibre within the Ugandan capital city of Kampala and surrounding towns, a 250 square metre data centre, and office space for company representatives and staff members.

“The acquisition goes hand in hand with our five-year strategy into expanding operations in the region,” Bedi added. “As such, we are very excited about having a greater local presence.”

Seacom has provided wholesale solutions to Uganda since its inception in 2009, and corporate solutions since 2018.

In a statement released to the media: “Although dominated by small businesses, Uganda is home to a thriving private sector with thousands of medium to large-sized businesses located primarily across Kampala and the central region. There's also a growing Internet penetration rate with competitive connectivity prices as compared to other countries in the region.”

The company stated, “The acquisition of established infrastructure will allow for further expansion into East Africa, enabling Seacom to provide seamless integration of its services for clients across Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and decreasing the reliance on third-party last mile providers to deliver connectivity solutions – solutions that include wireless and fibre Internet access, cloud connectivity, as well as hosting facilities, such as email and security, such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection software.”

Bedi said, “Customers are starting to buy more bandwidth. Businesses are making use of the cloud like never before, using enterprise resource planning, Office 365, and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions that serve not just to fill gaps, but aid in driving digital transformation and strengthening internal and external capabilities. The growth of the Internet in the region follows the demands of these businesses, and it’s up to us to facilitate that. The end result is lower prices, improved reactions, and an overall better experience for our customers.”