{"id":634,"date":"2025-12-08T09:14:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/?p=634"},"modified":"2025-12-08T09:14:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:14:19","slug":"the-paratus-man-driving-the-groups-expansion-in-sub-equatorial-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/2025\/12\/08\/the-paratus-man-driving-the-groups-expansion-in-sub-equatorial-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Paratus man driving the group\u2019s expansion in sub-equatorial Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Martin Cox \u2013 Group Chief Commercial Officer \u2013 Paratus Group<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Martin Cox joined the Paratus Group<\/a><\/strong> in 2021, his principal mandate was to champion the Group\u2019s ambitious expansion across Africa. His leadership has been instrumental in advancing the organisation\u2019s broader strategic goals, including the successful rollout of Paratus 500<\/strong>, a major milestone that marks the Group\u2019s achievement in securing licences and operations reaching 500 million people in sub-equatorial Africa. As Chief Commercial Officer, Martin\u2019s impressive track record and experience are brought to bear in leading the Paratus Group\u2019s charge across Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the run up to the Paratus 500 announcement, Martin used his strategic capability to great effect in shaping and negotiating agreements that are now strengthening the Group\u2019s long-term position and mission in Africa. Over the past two years, this expansion journey included establishing new companies, securing operating licences and launching Paratus operations in seven additional African markets. Together with the Paratus team and the Group\u2019s in-country partners, the expansion plan has culminated in the creation of a licensed network footprint reaching 500 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key to the Paratus Group\u2019s expansion plan has been the addition of East Africa, and Martin has spearheaded the Group\u2019s plans in making this a reality. \u201cI\u2019m very proud to have led the Paratus move into East Africa,\u201d he says, \u201cTogether with our in-country partners, Paratus now offers unequalled cross-border links, fiber and satellite networks. This makes us a compelling partner for any intercontinental, national or global business that requires robust, secure and fast connectivity across Southern and Central Africa. It\u2019s exciting because, as we carve out new territories, we are opening opportunities for African businesses to connect with the world and to become digitally transformed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin says that the Paratus Group\u2019s growth strategy in sub-equatorial Africa is unique on the continent. \u201cParatus has not only decided to grow organically, but we have partnered with local ISPs that provide Paratus with local teams on the ground to support our customers. This means we can service our clients with a seamless and contiguous network with focus on providing a quality service with a significant local presence in each market. Additionally, the Paratus Group has four Data Centers (DCs) in southern Africa and was the landing partner for the Google Equiano subsea cable in Namibia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin also leads the Group\u2019s partnerships into the Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite services market. In 2023, Paratus was one of the first appointed Authorised Resellers for Starlink in Africa and this enhances the Group\u2019s ability to service its customers no matter how remote the location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next on Martin\u2019s agenda will be to consolidate the expansion to date and focus on now growing the business organically within each new territory. \u201cOur next main goal, having announced Paratus 500<\/strong> is to drive customer and revenue growth in our markets and to make Paratus a significant local player in each new market and leverage the synergies of the coverage we have created\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background about Martin Cox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

His work in the international telecommunications sector began when he worked in the mid \u201890s with a private equity development company that invested in telecom operators in emerging markets. Investments included Axtel (Mexico) in 1997 which is now a US$650m revenue operator, Celtel (the pan-African mobile operator) in 1998, and Neotel (South Africa) in 2003. Martin was one of the founding shareholders and executives at Neotel where he was initially responsible for raising the financing before taking over the strategy and sales functions, growing revenue to R4bn before Neotel was acquired by Liquid Telecommunications. More recently, Martin was responsible for Strategy, Commercial and M&A at Internet Solutions (part of the Dimension Data Group).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK-born and educated, Martin Cox is also a qualified lawyer and MBA graduate. He is married to a South African, has three daughters and lives in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Martin Cox joined the Paratus Group in 2021, his principal mandate was to champion the Group\u2019s ambitious expansion across Africa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26041,26019,26018],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-paratus-500","tag-paratus-africa","tag-paratus-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions\/636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/paratus-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}