Network and telecoms provider, MTN, announced on Tuesday, 23 July 2019, that it plans on developing a software-defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN) and is re-purposing thousands of sites across the country to harness NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT).
Giovanni Chiarelli, Chief Technology and Information Officer at MTN, says, “cutting-edge solutions like these are opening the door to an array of exciting new opportunities for businesses in today’s fast-paced digital economy”.
An NB-IoT network is a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology standard that provides strong coverage over large areas and enables wide-range connectivity of new IoT devices and services.
SDN (software-defined networking) technology, meanwhile, connects enterprise networks — including branch offices and data centres — over large geographic distances.
MTN has invested over $2.8 billion in the past four years, to build South Africa’s network and Chiarelli says this investment is ‘providing a powerful platform from which new solutions can be rolled out, both now and into the future’.
“This investment is proof of our vision which is translated into exceptional performance numbers and improved network experience for our customers. Technology advancement is an important part of our business and the numbers we are looking at investing in the next few years are in the same ballpark as what we have spent in the past,” continues Chiarelli.
“Not many companies in South Africa or on the continent are investing as much as we do in technology today. We are very serious about technology excellence as a catalyst that helps deliver exceptional solutions for our customers.”
“SD-WAN is one of the new ways of building resilient enterprise networks. The decision to take this route is a response to increasing demand from some of our customers who called on us to build high performing networks that can support their IoT ambitions and digitisation journey,” adds Chiarelli.
Edited by Jenna Cook
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