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Johannesburg - A local data centre company, through which web traffic to Google South Africa is routed, says it has had discussions with Netflix about bringing the content streaming service to SA.
This is according to Lex van Wyk, who is the CEO of the vendor neutral data centre firm Teraco Data Environments.
Teraco already hosts top international and local content providers in South Africa such as Google SA and cloud computing outfit Akamai. Updates for Apple services, such as downloading of the latest iOS software, is managed by Akamai.
And Teraco’s talks with Netflix come amid the US streaming service announcing earlier this year that it is embarking on a global expansion to reach an extra 150 markets.
Netflix could officially launch in SA within the next two years, according to reports. Meanwhile, other players such as Telkom and Vodacom are also reportedly in talks with Netflix.
Hosting Netflix services within South Africa would make for a faster streaming experience.
"They're (Netflix) open to discussions obviously but they've got a strategy in their plan, and they are sticking to that,” van Wyk told Fin24.
"The last feedback from them (Netflix) is they've got markets like ... Asia and massive sort of population markets.
"So they’re first going to service where the numbers are. But obviously Africa's got numbers, so, it's on the list but it's not an immediate list,” van Wyk said.
Fin24 reached out to Netflix to ask about its potential SA plans. But the company spokesperson only responded with a brief statement.
“While I don't have any comments for you specific to South Africa or this particular data centre provider, what I can tell you is that we have publicly said that we plan to complete our global expansion in the coming two years,” Joris Evers of Netflix told Fin24.
“We have also confirmed that we plan to launch in Australia and New Zealand later this month and in Japan later this year. We have not communicated any further expansion plans,” Evers said.
Netflix has grown into a powerful online content provider and has even started creating its own hit TV series such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.
Netflix’s global membership swelled to 57.4 million at the end of 2014.
Teraco’s growth
Teraco launched operations in South Africa in 2008 and it is describes itself as Africa’s only vendor neutral data centre provider.
This means that Teraco acts as a type of ‘landlord’ in which various companies and services can rent out parts of its data centre facilities.
Apart from content providers having a presence at Teraco, telecom providers and financial service companies are also using its facilities. Teraco serves over 170 clients and has data centre facilities in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
Banking group Absa also provided Teraco with a R400m funding boost earlier this year. Late last year, Teraco also announced that it is being acquired by “a company backed” by Permira.
Permira is a global private equity firm which has made over 200 investments since 1985 in companies that include tech-giants such as Ancestry.com.
The Teraco investment also marked Permira’s first ever African deal.
