Hong Kong – PCCW Global, the international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider, has been recognised by Frost & Sullivan with the 2015 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) Connectivity Solutions Customer Value Leadership Award. This prestigious recognition follows Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis of the connectivity solutions market.

PCCW Global delivers various layers of critical infrastructure to SSA, including fiber and satellite transmission, Internet transit services, MPLS and Ethernet connectivity, and also aggressively facilitates meshed IPX networks which have enabled the use of voice over IPX (VoIPX). This is a significant move in the region, as this service ensures improved service quality for its customers.

“PCCW Global is a leader in the provision of robust fiber connectivity through its partial ownership in the undersea cables connecting Africa to the rest of the world,” said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Ms. Vivienne Mutembwa. “It has created a fiber ring around Africa by connecting the East Coast and the West Coast undersea cables through the Teraco Data Centres in South Africa, thereby establishing an integrated first-in-class VoIPX network.”

Mr. Marc Halbfinger, Chief Executive Officer of PCCW Global, said, “We are delighted to receive this award which recognises our long-term commitment to delivering customer value in Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the most diverse and dynamic markets of the world. We have been providing connectivity services to this region for more than 20 years, and we remain committed to expanding and evolving our network, to delivering reliable high-quality communications, and to providing access to the latest technological innovations which in turn allow us to better serve the changing needs of our customers.”

PCCW Global manages numerous satellite transponders over Africa and it maintains access to multiple cable landing stations facilitating world-class local connectivity. Today, PCCW Global provides fiber connectivity to 40 African countries, including 11 landlocked countries. PCCW Global’s cross-border optimal connectivity includes countries such as Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.

“The company boasts one of the world’s leading peered IP networks, which lets it deliver reliable and extremely diverse international capability to Internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile network operators (MNOs),” Ms. Mutembwa said. “This helps the ISPs and MNOs meet customer demand for international voice, data, mobile roaming, signalling, and messaging services, without making any infrastructural investments or signing multiple relationship agreements.”

PCCW Global’s multiple cable landing points not only reduce overall service costs, as there is no cost involved in network transferring, but also support uninterrupted service in the event of a connection failure in one of the cables. This is a highly relevant feature, as countries like Mozambique are prone to floods, which can damage the infrastructure. Through constant consultation with ISPs and MNOs on the network management process, PCCW Global has also overcome the challenge of a lack of electricity in certain countries, ensuring minimal service disruption.

PCCW Global’s agile network structure ensures that customers’ traffic does not have to transit networks, but travels directly from source to destination. Its resilient MPLS/IPX network covers more than 3,000 cities in over 140 countries worldwide and connects to hundreds of service providers around the globe. The company resolves security issues with its integrated Threat Management Service, a cloud-based security system that identifies both known and unknown threats and notifies the end user about the time and type of attack. PCCW Global then blocks the attack at the source and mitigates the impact to the customer. PCCW Global is a pioneer in bringing this cloud-based network intelligence solution to the SSA market.

Mr. Krishna Srinivasan, Global President and Managing Partner, Frost & Sullivan, summed up, “The key to the long-term success of any company is its ability to continuously nurture and enhance the value of its products and/or services to its customers. As such, Frost & Sullivan is excited to recognize PCCW Global for its industry-leading focus on enriching customer experience and customer ROI for its services in the connectivity solutions market.” 

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers by improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products. The award recognises the company’s inordinate emphasis on refining the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and ultimately customer base expansion.