Sparkle, the first international service provider in Italy and a major global operator, has expanded its network footprint to South Africa with the opening of two new Points of Presence (PoPs) in Cape Town and Johannesburg. These new PoPs, fully integrated with Sparkle’s Tier-1 global IP backbone Seabone and the Equiano submarine cable connecting South Africa to Nigeria and Portugal, enhance Sparkle’s African backbone.

By connecting to Sparkle’s PoPs in Cape Town and Johannesburg, network providers, ISPs, OTTs, content and application providers can benefit from reliable, low-latency Internet connectivity and capacity services. The expansion aims to meet the growing data demand driven by new technologies, media platforms, and cloud-based services that require ubiquitous internet connectivity.

Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle, said, “Sparkle continues the expansion of its African network with targeted investments to support the continent’s exceptional digital growth”. “With these new openings, which add to the existing PoPs in North Africa, Nigeria, South Africa and Djibouti,we consolidate our positioning as a leading global Tier-1 backbone and one of the main providers for international connectivity in Africa”, he added.