Digichilli “Goes Google”

Uncapped, high-speed ADSL services delivered through the new SEACOM cable is intelligently packaged with Google Apps by the country’s new Virtual Telecommunications Network Operator Digichilli.

Digichilli will provide South African businesses and home-users ADSL packages ranging from R300 a month up to R3000 a month for Internet speeds rarely seen in South Africa before. These packages will be bundled with web-based communication, collaboration and security apps from Google. Users of Digichilli packges will now be able to make use of Google’s reliable, secure online applications. These Google Appplications include; Gmail for businesses, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Sites, Gtalk and more.

There are still some concerns around the country’s bandwidth constraints, but the SEACOM cable is a new fibre optic cable providing South Africans with faster internet speeds. Apart from the SEACOM cable there are a number of projects which are planned to land in South Africa in the next two years, including EASSy, MainOne and the West Africa Cable System (WACS). All this to speed up the continent’s connectivity to the world.

Google and Digichilli are in joint mission to get more South Africans onto the web by providing faster Internet speeds and accessibility to enhanced online applications.

Darren Smith, MD of DigiChilli, says “We are pleased to be able to partner with Google to bring meaningful change to Southern Africa. This will be just the first of a range of initiatives that we will be embarking upon in the region”. Further to that, Smith says “Our prime objective is to ensure broad-based, affordable content-rich access to the under-serviced masses.”

These fast Internet speeds provided by Digichilli will drive more businesses to migrate to cloud-based services like Google Apps. Cloud computing can unlock a vast resource of computing that provide businesses with enterprise-competent web applications. Slower Internet speeds were delaying the migration to “the cloud”, but Grove Group, the Google Partner in the region has seen an accelerating adoption rate for Google Apps services in South Africa over the last couple of years.

Philip Witheridge, MD and Head of Technology Development at Grove commented on this, “Google provides home users and business with communication and collaboration tools that are focused on improving the end-user’s online experience. The prospect of using these services, in an environment where Internet speeds are increasing year by year has seen the adoption of Google Apps and other Google Enterprise Services accelerate significantly in South Africa”.

Improved Internet speeds, together with better accessibility to the Internet and advanced web-tools will drive local content in the next couple of years. South Africa is therefore moving into a brighter and faster Internet era.