US operator AT&T has teamed up with South Africa-based Telkom to target enterprise customers across Africa, reports the Financial Times (FT). AT&T said it would use Telkom’s pan-African network – which reaches into 35 countries – to better serve its 1,800 multinational clients. “Those 1,800 companies are more and more asking us to provide more advanced services throughout the continent,” Ronald Spears, head of AT&T’s business division, told reporters in Johannesburg. He added that the alliance with Telkom was similar to deals it already has in place with partners in the Middle East and China. According to the FT, AT&T will use Telkom’s infrastructure to supply corporate outsourcing services, including data systems and networks for businesses and information security.

For Telkom, the alliance is seen as part of its ongoing strategy to become a pan-African operator that can compete with the continent’s major mobile players such as MTN and Vodacom. Telkom divested its stake in Vodacom – South Africa’s largest mobile operator – last year, and has since invested in markets such as Nigeria. “In co-operation with AT&T, [we will] also explore opportunities for collaboration in the area of mobile services in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries,” Reuben September, Telkom’s chief executive, told the FT. He added that the alliance would generate “multi-million levels a year in revenues.”