Telkom South Africa, new owner of Africa Online Group, an Internet service provider, is to invest 10 million dollars in the company, to expand its network capacity.

Telkom South Africa, which acquired the Internet service provider from African Lakes Corporation, had embarked on such ambitious move as part of its Pan-African growth strategy.

The investment in Africa Online is a strategy to optimise the network capabilities to ensure that customers benefited from the vast experience of modern network and technological progress.

Mr. John Joseph, Chief Executive Officer of the Group, who disclosed these at a press conference in Accra on Friday said Ghana's market was competitive and the company with a market share of 25 per cent was bent on rising to be a leader.

He noted that the increasing number of ISPs on the Ghanaian market required the injection of innovative services to meet the demand of clients.

Mr. Joseph said as part of the company's 2007/8 growth strategy, the network infrastructure base would be expanded, new voice services developed and conference calling, video services and Internet transit would also be provided.

He said: “We will establish additional affiliates to increase our associate presence across Africa to about 39 countries.”

Mr. Joseph indicated that the niche market would be multinational and operate globally and provide services to solve networking problems across Africa.

Africa Online currently has a presence in eight African countries including Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Ivory Coast.

Source: GNA