MTN, MainOne scoop awards at AfricaCom 2011

MAIN One and SEACOM, the only two privately funded and open-access based African submarine fibre optic cable systems, were awarded 'Best Pan African Initiative' at the AfricaCom Awards 2011 ceremony held in Cape Town, South Africa, last week. The award recognises an initiative taken by an organisation or a group of organisations to improve telecommunications services at a regional or continental level.Main One Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke, explained: 'Through this partnership, Main One and SEACOM have extended their individual cable systems to the opposite coasts of Africa without the efforts required to construct brand new routes.'The ability to connect the east and west coast of the continent directly results in improved throughput but also provides a system around most of the continent which provides improved redundancy for telecommunications operators.'Commenting on the award, Mark Simpson, SEACOM CEO, said: 'We are honoured to be recognised once again for our efforts in continuously extending pan-African connectivity by investing in infrastructure, products and services that meet the continent's insatiable demand for bandwidth.'This partnership shows our determination to find viable ways to extend our system with partners who share our vision of building the African Internet on an open and equitable basis.'In addition, MTN South Africa received awards for the 'Best Network Improvement', for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) pilot test in Gauteng province, and 'Best Marketing Campaign (dubbed Bow Wow) for MTN Zone.MTN South Africa's Chief Marketing Officer, Serame Taukobong said: 'MTN is ecstatic to have once again gained this important recognition. These awards go to thousands of MTN employees, our partners and customers who shared the MTN vision with us and ensured that our objectives are realised.'The accolades are further affirmation from the industry and our customers that we are on the right track and need to cement the work we have been doing to provide our customers with the seamless experience they have come to expect from MTN.
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