South African ICT services provider Jasco Group has partnered with Warid Congo to provide services out of the latter company’s data center in Brazzaville, the central-African country’s capital.

Jasco is hoping to capitalize on opportunities it says Congo is ripe with, because there is demand for internet services in the country, but the infrastructure has been too expensive to build, making internet services too expensive and accessible only through satellite, Gadget, a Congo tech news website reported.

Eckart Zollner, a business development manager at Jasco, said the company has seen a similar scenario in its home country.

“The situation is reminiscent of the South African market several years ago, and our experience in South Africa puts us in an ideal position to not only harness these opportunities but to assist with growth and skills transfer in the Central African region,” he said.

Jasco is going to take over operational costs and maintenance of Warid’s data center in Brazzaville, which has been underutilized according to its owner. The South African company will build an internet exchange at the facility and will provide local internet hosting there, which it says will drive down the cost of internet access.

Jasco and Warid will share revenue generated by the data center.

Michael Elame, managing director of Warid Congo, said, “We were looking for a seasoned, highly experienced partner in the field to help us reposition our organization to meet the needs of corporates around data centers and carrier neutral services. Jasco delivers on all of our requirements and are the ideal partner.”

In addition to Congo, Warid provides telecommunications services in Uganda and Pakistan. The company is partially owned by Abu Dhabi Group, private equity firm out of the United Arab Emirates, and, to a smaller extent, by the Singapore telco SingTel.