Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)

Broadband wireless provider on expansion trail in Africa

- SANDILE MCHUNU

INFINET Wireless has set its sights on increasing its presence in Africa by opening an office in South Africa to give it more exposure to the local community.

According to Kamal Mokrani, the global vice-president at InfiNet Wireless, plans are already at an advanced stage. “We have been holding interviews to get the right people for the South African office which are planning to open soon,” said Mokrani.

InfiNet Wireless is one of the largest privately owned broadband wireless access developmen­t and manufactur­ing companies in the world.

Since its foundation in 1993, the company has maintained consistent organic growth, primarily through its technology innovation.

“We built the very first wireless network in Ladysmith (KwaZulu-Natal) and there are numerous other examples, city surveillan­ce projects in particular, which facilitate varying levels of integratio­n. In addition to this, we have built a number of networks for a diverse range of customers from industry sectors such as mining, energy, utilities and general enterprise market,” said Mokrani.

The company has operations in 19 countries throughout the world and has a working partnershi­p with 130 countries where it delivers it wireless connectivi­ty.

The company has played a role in bringing connectivi­ty to the African continent, which has major problems in infrastruc­ture.

Mokrani said fixed broadband wireless technology was well suited to the African continent due to the ever-increasing demand for connectivi­ty to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural areas.

At the most recent AfricaCom conference and exhibition in 2016, the lar- gest African telecoms, media and technology event in the world, “we launched our very latest portfolio addition, the InfiLINK XG 1000, a brand new platform which enables network operators to effectivel­y provide significan­tly more capacity to their users than they have been able to do in the past,” he said.

“While the user may not necessaril­y see the benefits when using data over the network, there is a quantifiab­le difference when transmitti­ng voice and video streams.”

 ?? PICTURE: SUPPLIED ?? Kamal Mokrani, global vice-president of InfiNet Wireless, which is set on branching out into Africa.
PICTURE: SUPPLIED Kamal Mokrani, global vice-president of InfiNet Wireless, which is set on branching out into Africa.

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