When we think of Africa’s digital transformation, it’s usually about smartphones, mobile data, and apps. But the real story may be unfolding in mines, ports, and factories, where connectivity is powering the continent’s biggest industries.
This is where Sedna Africa has staked its ground. Founded in 2006 by Peter Dormehl and Darryl Mitchell with little more than a borrowed pickup truck, the Johannesburg-based systems integrator has grown into one of Africa’s biggest providers of private mobile networks and digital industrial infrastructure. Today, it operates across five countries, serving mining giants, ports, and energy firms, and is now eyeing Nigeria as it pushes further north.
The company’s boldest move yet is a R5 million (~$287,000) investment in its new Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Johannesburg, a facility it believes will redefine industrial connectivity across the continent.
Why private networks matter
Telecoms is usually seen as consumer-facing, but Sedna’s work underscores how different the needs of heavy industries are. “We are focused on providing connectivity for the use cases in heavy industries,” Anton Fester, Sedna Africa’s Managing Director, told in an interview on Thursday. “That means being at the coalface of mining, ports, and manufacturing entities that drive employment and revenue across Africa.”
Unlike public mobile networks, which are designed for millions of users, Sedna’s mobile private networks (MPNs) are built for mission-critical environments. They act like private highways for data. In one mining project, Sedna replaced 50 Wi-Fi radios with just three private mobile radios, cutting costs and improving reliability.
The impact is transformative: one client uses autonomous drones for precision surveying, while another runs Africa’s first underground private network to automate ore transport. In these environments, even milliseconds of delay can mean costly downtime.
Beyond mining: ports, pipelines, and maritime firsts
Sedna is taking its expertise beyond mining. In Mozambique, the company is deploying its first maritime private network at the Port of Beira, one of Southern Africa’s busiest gateways. For decades, ports relied on outdated narrowband technology that could only handle kilobytes of data. Sedna’s private LTE networks now enable connected workers, asset tracking, paperless workflows, and real-time logistics management.
The company is also moving into energy and infrastructure. Its distributed fibre sensing technology turns buried fibre-optic cables into “digital nerves,” able to detect digging, vandalism, or leaks along pipelines within seconds. For utilities and energy distributors, this means preventing small disturbances from spiraling into catastrophic outages.
The $287,000 nerve centre
At the heart of Sedna’s big bet is its new Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Johannesburg. Described as the “nerve centre” of the business, the facility integrates live feeds from Internet of Things (IoT) devices, fibre sensors, mobile networks, and security cameras into a single command hub.
The technology inside is military-grade — the same trusted by the US Department of Defense — but Sedna’s purpose is civilian: keeping mines safe, ports efficient, and pipelines secure. The system can take a minor alert, such as unusual after-hours activity at a gate, and instantly magnify it across multiple screens while triggering AI-driven analytics.
“The challenge is not just visibility but overload,” explains Sedna’s technology partner Digi Rock Innovations (DRi). “We consolidate data from operations, accounting, fleet management, and more into one environment. That makes decision-making faster and far more effective.”
AI, security, and predictive monitoring
Artificial intelligence already plays a role in the NOC. Many industrial clients have 400–1,000 CCTV cameras, but only a handful of human operators. Sedna’s AI systems learn what “normal” looks like in a given environment and automatically flag anomalies such as after-hours intrusions.
At the same time, distributed fibre sensing extends security coverage up to 50 kilometres. It can tell the difference between someone walking near a fence and a heavy machine digging dangerously close to critical infrastructure and pinpoint the activity within 10 metres. That means security patrols can respond in minutes rather than hours.
Scaling across Africa
Sedna’s $287,000 investment is a strategic play to dominate Africa’s industrial connectivity market, valued globally at nearly $15 billion. With successful deployments in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique, the company is now eyeing Nigeria’s ports and industrial hubs as its next growth frontier.
But Sedna is not pursuing growth alone. Its philosophy is collaborative: share knowledge, build capacity, and help Africa become globally competitive in industrial digitalisation. “We believe technology is a key enabler,” says Fester. “The world is big enough for everyone to succeed, and Africa needs to be part of that success.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story said Sedna Africa made a $287 million investment in its NOC facility. The correct figure is $287,000.
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