Athlone Subsidiary Vaninga Announces Business Connexion as Keystone Customer for its First Data Centre in Mozambique
Marketwired
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL and MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE--(Marketwired - Feb 18, 2015) - Vaninga, a subsidiary of Athlone Investments Limited (TASE:ATLN)(IT:ATLN) ("Athlone", "APIO" or the "Company")-currently undergoing a brand change to APIO-is pleased to announce that it has received a Letter of Intent from Business Connexion ("BCX") securing a three year deal for the provision of data centre services in Mozambique valued at between $US4 million and $US5 million over the term of the proposed agreement. BCX's commitment effectively accounts for all of the capacity of the first phase of the modular data centre, currently under construction and due for completion by the end of February 2015 with services beginning mid-March 2015.
The deal forms part of APIO's structured expansion through Africa utilising strategic partnerships, investment and a focus on building sustainable infrastructure in support of the Continent's growth.
BCX, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (BCX), operates in half a dozen African countries, the UAE and the UK and generates an annual revenue of over $600 million dollars providing connectivity, application and data solutions for large enterprise, government, Telco's and small to medium (SME) enterprise customers.
Gordon Edwards, Chairman of APIO states: "We are extremely pleased to have BCX as a key customer in our first data centre in Mozambique. Our planning for carrier neutral datacentres is now validated with a company of the calibre of BCX committing as a long term anchor customer".
Vaninga and Investimentos Lda, a Mozambican corporation, in which APIO holds a controlling stake, is licensed to build and operate data centres and an array of telecommunications services in Mozambique.
Vaninga has also received a Letter of Intent from Internet Solutions ("IS") a subsidiary of Dimension Data (part of the NTT Group). The proposed commercial terms remain confidential save that the intention is that it will be a five year agreement for APIO to provide Infrastructure as a Service, co-location and hosting, disaster recovery, Cloud and virtualization services to IS.
APIO aims to move beyond the traditional data centre model of providing hosting and co-location through the addition of virtual and dedicated suites and storage servers, offering rich and versatile Cloud and virtualisation services. There is a dearth of data centre supply in Mozambique, and across much of the continent, and APIO is prepared to capitalise on this market opportunity through partnerships and sustainable growth opportunities that will support the continent's growth and its ability to enter into the global economy with confidence.
About Athlone Investments Ltd.
Athlone Investments Ltd. subsidiary, Vaninga & Investimentos Limitada is a Mozambican telecommunications operator licensed to provide a full range of fixed and wireless services nationally. It will focus on the provision of carrier neutral data center services which are in very short supply in Mozambique and in Sub Saharan Africa generally. The Company will launch services in Maputo in the early new year and have already received expressions of interest for the full capacity of rack space available.
In addition to traditional data centre services such as hosting and co-location, Vaninga plans to provide, a range of Cloud based services such as Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a Service, virtual servers, secure storage and media streaming. Its customers include banks, telecommunications operators, Government, SME's and Consumers.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information
This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Israeli securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the Company's business model. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and other risks of the industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
