Information and communication technology (ICT) equipment giant Huawei and telecommunications and information technology group Altech have partnered to create Altech Collab to serve the enterprise market in Africa.

“Altech signed a long-term partnership agreement with Huawei to provide Huawei Enterprise ICT equipment, services and support to customers in 15 sub-Saharan African countries,” says Huawei Enterprise Eastern and Southern African president Eman Liu.

The two companies’ existing network of channels and distributors will be used to supply Huawei products and solutions and offer professional post-sales services and support. Huawei provides technical support through access to its product experts to Altech to enable it to provide high-quality services and the rapid integration of systems on the continent.

“Altech recognises that customers want better value and more flexibility from the information technology industry and Altech Collab addresses those demands by providing customers with the best possible solutions for their information technology infrastructure requirements,” says Altech Business Development group executive Tim Ellis.

Huawei has significant experience in providing equipment and systems for the financial, mining and transport sectors, as well as Internet service providers and telecommu- nications companies in Africa, notes Liu.

The company traditionally sells its equipment directly to customers. Huawei’s strategy in the enterprise domain focuses on close cooperation and integration with partners and it aims to leverage its experience of supplying telecommunications equipment to Africa to provide new ICT products and solutions suited to the different markets, he adds.

“A team of Altech executives visited our headquarters and manufacturing facilities, in China, prior to the agreement. We demon- strated the capabilities of the equipment that we manufacture and can supply to Africa. Huawei invests 10% of its yearly revenue into research and development and our long history of supplying efficient customer-centric ICT solutions and services to more than 50 countries in Africa speaks volumes about the quality of our equipment.”

Further, the whole gamut of technology equipment that Huawei can provide, including cellular base-station equipment, networking switches, cloud-service data centres, universal serial bus dongles and tablets, as well as software and systems, such as telepresence systems for mobile workers and bring-your-own device strategies, will enable the joint venture to grow aggressively in a large range of industries across the continent, says Liu.

“The partnership between Huawei and Altech will enable us and our channel partners to provide much more and much broader services and solutions for Africa, helping the continent to develop and leapfrog tech- nology-development steps to deploy fast, modern systems,” he concludes.