MainOne rebrands, Poised to Address W/Africa’s Broadband Needs

MainOne Cable Company, West Africa’s leading wholesale communications services company and the first privately owned, open access submarine fiber optic cable to land in Nigeria and Ghana, has rebranded itself as MainOne.

The rebranding marks the conclusion of the company’s evolution from a submarine cable company to a full-fledged communications services provider, poised to play a greater role in providing a wide bouquet of data center and connectivity services across Africa.

With its repositioning, MainOne is asserting its increased capabilitynot only to provide wholesale capacity, and to offer a wider range of products and services to cater to the needs of its customers but alsoto stake its claim on its share of the sub-Saharan telecommunications market which is billed by analysts to grow at a 10% annual compounded rate to a size of $69billion by 2016.

Already within three years of operation, the company has established a reputation as a preferred provider of wholesale capacity and Internet services to Service Providers and Enterprises in the region. In addition, the company has extended its reach of services both organically and through partnerships within Nigeria and Ghana into the neighboring West African countries of Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso. In addition, the company recently established an office to service Francophone West Africa in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Ms. Funke Opeke, MainOne’s chief executive officer, while unveiling the new corporate identity at the International Telecoms Week 2013 taking place in Chicago, explained that the rebrand was carried out to better reflect the company's focus and direction.

“MainOne has been at the forefront ofdriving broadband penetration across West Africa since our inception. In order to achieve our vision of improving access to broadband services across the sub region, we have taken decisive action tocontinue to invest in our terrestrial network in multiple countries, increased our product and service offeringsbeyond basic connectivity, andformed strategic partnerships with various operators to enhance our portfolio of services. We are excited about the future prospects in our market and look forward to launching the new brand identity to symbolize the tremendous opportunity ahead of us to transform the broadband landscape in West Africa.", she said.

“Our customers stand to benefit from our increasing portfolio of services that will enable businesses in West Africa to participate meaningfully in the global digital economy.  This innovative bouquet of products and services includes a Metro Ethernet network offering with over 200 kilometers of fiber optic access within business districts in Lagos, a brand new 2.5MW, 600 Rack Data center currently construction for completion by Q2 2014, and partnerships and new points of presence to serve major cities of Abuja and Port Harcourt...”