MTN Business has announced that it will offer Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute to clients from today onwards in a step the company says will help move African enterprises closer to accessing cloud services.

In a media release the mobile operator said customers can use Azure ExpressRoute as a value added service, to enable a security-enhanced, SLA-backed network connection to Microsoft Azure.

"Azure ExpressRoute will also give customers connectivity access to additional services on Azure," the operator added.

According to MTN the service will leverage its Global MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) network and provide customers "with a consistent experience when utilising applications that are delivered from Azure ExpressRoute."

Debbie Minnaar, general manager: products and services, group enterprise business unit at MTN, said, "Through Azure ExpressRoute, our customers can experience a managed network service with the same reliability, manageability and security they would have when using a private network. Customers will benefit from better quality of service, and will be able to access services via the Cloud, as well as share data sets between the MTN Business Cloud and Azure, for a hybrid cloud experience."

In its release the mobile operator explained that Azure ExpressRoute connections do not go over the public Internet, and therefore offer greater reliability, faster speeds, lower latencies, and higher security than typical Internet connections.

The mobile operator will roll out the service in SA, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Uganda and Ghana, and has plans to target other regions in the coming months.

"Microsoft is excited to welcome MTN into its Azure ExpressRoute ecosystem. MTN has a long-term history of collaborating with Microsoft, both in hybrid cloud and productivity solutions," said Ross Ortega, principal programme manager, Azure Networking.

"MTN's capabilities to operate enterprise class networks, along with their sizeable reach and availability on the African continent and in the Middle East, will significantly help extend Azure services in those regions," Ortega concluded.

The Azure ExpressRoute offering comes on the back of the recent launch of MTN's pan-African cloud platform, which provides customers with hybrid cloud solution services from MTN's data centres.