Ntel and the SAT 3 advantage

The return of Nigeria’s first submarine telecommunications cable is a significant development for the telecoms industry in Africa’s largest economy, writes PATRICK ATUANYA

Introduction

Nigeria’s telecommunications industry just got a productivity jolt with the return of the first and oldest undersea submarine cable known as SAT 3 from NATCOM Development & Investment Limited trading as ntel the company that recently acquired Telecom assets, previously operated by NiTel/MTel.

The Telecom assets acquired, by NatCom, included: National Carrier; International Gateway; and Digital Mobile licenses. A cellular mobile and microwave spectrum, tower sites, telephone exchanges, satellite earth stations and metro fibre ducts and intercity fibre rights of way.

SAT3/WASC/SAFE SAT-3/WASC or South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable is the longest submarine communications cable in the world with 17 landing points linking Portugal and Europe to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route.

The re-activation of SAT3 by ntel because it provides access to global markets and enables “seamless and diverse” connectivity to the rest of the world for Nigerian businesses.

In a statement announcing the successful repair and return to service of the SAT-3 cable, Kamar Abass CEO of ntel said:

“The repair of SAT-3 is fantastic news for data-hungry consumers and corporates in need of superfast and abundant broadband carried over a robust fiber network with significant capacity and low latency. SAT-3’s 17 landing points and intermediate branches in-country and abroad provide for connections all the way to the far-East thanks to our alliance with SAFE.”

Potential customers of SAT-3 include Nigeria’s GSM and LTE operators, Internet service Providers (ISPs), major international companies, Private Telecom Operators, Content/Hosting operators, Infomedics/Infomatics Operators, the judiciary (for the execution of real-time on-line matters), banks and the military as well as airline operators.

SAT 3 to boost broadband penetration and growth

Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector has grown exponentially since the licensing of GSM operators in 2001 and has become the leading mobile telephony market in Africa, in terms of subscriber base and revenue and today contributes $52 billion annually to nominal GDP.

The resultant increase in investor confidence led to an abundant inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) of over $32b over the last 14years.

From about 400,000 telephone lines, there are now over 150 million subscribers, according to the most recent data from the regulator NCC.

The Information and Communication sector grew by 11.01 percent (year-on year) in the fourth quarter of 2015, and contributed 10.37 percent  to total Nominal GDP in the fourth quarter of 2015, higher than the 10.01 percent recorded in the same quarter of 2014, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). However, the growth so far witnessed has been largely restricted to voice telephony with limited impact on broadband.

While countries like South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and Morocco, have provided access to broadband services in their respective countries, Nigeria’s broadband penetration remains at about 10 percent and is ranked 130th out of the 189 member states of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

This is where the return of SAT 3 has the greatest opportunity to make an impact for ntel, the sector and the Nigerian economy.

Increased broadband access will impact positively on the economy as the national broadband policy has indicated a 10 percent increase in broadband access leads to a 1.3 percent increase in GDP.

It will also form the backbone for Nigeria’s push to diversify its economy away from oil due to the impact broadband penetration can have on other sectors like banking, finance, healthcare, technology and sciences.

Ntel has the advantage of being able to push last mile penetration for broadband into Nigeria’s 36 states due to its acquisition of NITELs infrastructure.

The company ntel currently has some 1,100km of metro-fibre ducts across 6 major cities in Nigeria and 4,000km of inter-city Rights-of-Way for fibre.

The deployment of superfast broadband internet access will help enable e-learning, e-commerce, e-medicine while facilitating communication and entertainment for subscribers who are increasingly mobile and plugged in.

The SAT 3 advantage

In a world where 4 of the 5 largest global firms by market capitalisation are technology companies (Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook), the future indeed belongs to ICT and companies providing the infrastructure for technology.

SAT3 is positioned to address Nigeria’s need for super-fast internet connectivity, data-hungry applications, high-quality video-on-demand and increasing social media usage.

It is Africa’s longest submarine cable covering a distance of 28,800km and has a total lit capacity of about 1,000 Gbps.

Other additional features include: Direct connectivity to 15 countries covering Europe, Asia and Africa, with onward connectivity globally via partners.

The network has high-capacity links providing high-quality voice, video and Data Services.

The doubling of its capacity – from 420 Gbps to 920 Gbps in the northern segments and from 340 Gbps to 800 Gbps in the southern segments – positions it as the leading submarine cable with the widest reach with highly stable cable infrastructure maximising availability and costefficent Broadband access compared to Satellite services

SAT 3 also offers co-location to Tier III standard at its Data Centre in central Lagos.

The SAT3 network has the capability of direct connectivity to more than 100 terminals stations around the world, making it the only Submarine Cable System in Nigeria with such leverage.

With such astronomical distance within the globe, the SAT3 has the best latency.

Because of its reach and interconnection with SAFE and WASCs as well as its 17 landing points is able to accept and deliver on multiple requests.

The multiplicity of requests means more customers for ntel which translates into higher revenues. As a member of a consortium of 35 other entities, SAT3 can leverage on economics of scale to provide more pocket friendly pricing for corporates and enterprises requiring access to home offices and foreign markets.

SAT3’s ability to provide competitive pricing regime will boost broadband access which leaves it firmly aligned with the recommendations of the National Broadband policy which has projected a 5 fold leap in broadband access by 2018.

SAT3’s reach also provides it a unique advantage with regard to the Far East especially with a resurgent China and high volume business transactions between Nigeria and Asian countries.

The cable system is funded and owned by a consortium of 35 foremost telecoms operators from different parts of the world and NatCom  is the the fourth highest shareholder with a share of 6.23 percent.

PATRICK ATUANYA