Almot Maqolo, Staff Writer 
STATE-OWNED telecommunications company, TelOne, says it will make use of its existing infrastructure to set up three new data centres at an estimated cost of US$20 million, despite capital constraints.
A data center is a facility housing many networked computers that work together to process, store and share data.
The three data centres will be set up in Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo. The company currently has three operational data centers domiciled in Harare, Mazowe and Bulawayo.
TelOne’s chief executive, Lawrence Nkala, told The Financial Gazette that the uptake levels of those in operation have been “very aggressive”.
He believes that there is an opportunity to extend this to other regions.
“The key issue is around investment. We need access to cheaper capital, which will enable us to roll out these solutions cost effectively and to the benefit of consumers, so that’s the game plan. Yes, we are going to extend our presence into those three regions: Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo.
The three data centres will be set up in Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo. The company currently has three operational data centers domiciled in Harare, Mazowe and Bulawayo.
“This is a bit of a medium- to long-term issue; the budget obviously will look at around US$20 million as a figure to just start deploying in the data centres. The good thing is we already have power; we can upgrade our power systems; and we have real estate. So what we need is to put the equipment and convert the rooms into a data centre environment,” he said.
Nkala stressed that the Harare data centre is already full at the moment.
“We plan to expand in Harare because there is a concentration of enterprises and businesses within Harare, and those require space. There is growth in the existing data centers particularly in Harare,” he said.
“We have already expanded the Mazowe one, and the capacity is almost exhausted. There is interest by most businesses to go to Mazowe closer to Harare and it also gives enough distance for disaster recovery.”
Meanwhile, TelOne says it has invested an average of US$10 million annually in the last three years to improve its network.
In the absence of capital injection from the shareholder as well as other financiers, the company has been making steady progress through internally generated funds.
TelOne said it requires US$250 million to position itself as a modern communications solutions provider.
It said it has made progress in the deployment of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge and Harare-Bulawayo-Beitbridge backbone fibres, which ensured improved bandwidth capacity coming into the country at a lower cost. newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw
