Johannesburg - Africa’s biggest mobile network MTN plans to directly connect its business customers to Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS is an Amazon cloud computing offering that enables companies access to data centre technology at a low cost.
MTN, then, is offering its customers a service dubbed ‘Direct Connect’, which enables companies’ data centres or offices to establish private connectivity to AWS.
The mobile network plans to connect customers to an AWS point in the European Union (EU) Ireland region over the MTN global Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network.
MTN operates in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East such as South Africa and Nigeria.
“The relationship with Amazon Web Services is an important step in our plans to address the needs of enterprise customers in emerging markets, particularly Africa,” said MTN Group Chief Enterprise Officer, Mteto Nyati, in a statement.
The connection to AWS is further expected to bring multinational and large enterprise customers more consistent network performance when they access AWS, according to MTN.
MTN is also claiming that bandwidth costs will be reduced when accessing AWS, thanks to a lower data transfer rate than normal internet rates.