Plessey Steps Into Operation and Management Services Arena

Plessey Steps Into Operation and Management Services Arena

JOHANNESBURG, November 2, 2010/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

    Plessey(http://www.plessey.co.za/), the wholly-owned Dimension Data (
http://www.dimensiondata.com/) subsidiary, today announced the launch of its
operator-neutral Operation and Management (O&M) Services which will be made
available to wireless and cable network operators across the African
continent.

    This move will see Plessey assume the role of physical infrastructure
developer, as well as provide a first class managed infrastructure service on
which any operator can build their services.

    Plessey specialises in the provision of passive infrastructure for
service providers and GSM operators in Africa on a non-shared, shared or
multi-tenanted full maintenance lease basis.

    Howard Earley, Plessey CEO says, "Plessey has over 50 years' experience
in providing Radio Base Station (RBS) site-build and outside plant fibre
infrastructure throughout Africa. We have excellent relationships with key
operators on the ground, and have for some years been providing several
components of managed service in South Africa and East Africa. Extending our
offering to include a broader value stack of managed infrastructure service
to established, emerging, and embryonic Towercos and network service
providers is the next logical step for Plessey."

    He explains: "In the past, network operators invested in infrastructure
either for their own and exclusive use, or participated to industry sharing
initiatives. Today, operators are under increased pressure to reduce their
operating costs and capital expenditure. This, coupled with a decreasing
EBITDA makes them open to outsourcing the management of their towers to third
parties. Sharing a common infrastructure is entirely carrier neutral and does
not differentiate between users, and the real benefits to operators are
compelling."

    Earley says Plessey's O&M Services model also aligns with parent company
Dimension Data's goal to become a world leading services-led organisation.
"There appears to be deep support for the shared infrastructure model by a
number of regulatory bodies throughout Africa," he explains.

    According to a study by the TMT advisory firm Delta Partners, there are
200,000 towers in the Middle East and Africa. Delta expects the demand for
towers in MEA to increase by 50% over the next five years, driven by factors
such as the availability of undersea cable networks, terrestrial fibre
networks, broadband wireless technologies and subscriber growth. Circa US$8.0
billion in cumulative tower related CAPEX could be saved if operators were to
share towers (The Delta Perspective, April 2009).

    For further information contact Howard Earley, Tel: +27-11-6551603,
howard.earley@plessey.co.za

Source: Dimension Data

For further information contact Howard Earley, Tel: +27-11-6551603,
howard.earley@plessey.co.za