Vodacom Business Nigeria and Intelsat S.A. have announced an agreement to expand Vodacom’s broadband connectivity in Nigeria. The agreement was aimed at providing an improved satellite services to the former’s local enterprise customers.
The strategic agreement was signed at the Satellite 2018 event which took place in Washington D.C, United States of America recently. The agreement now makes Vodacom Business Nigeria the first telecommunications provider in Nigeria to lease capacity on the Intelsat 35e Satellite.
Research has it that as satellite coverage increases globally, enterprise businesses are no longer limited to operating from just one location because of the high speed broadband requires for business operation.
However, this agreement with Intelsat S.A, which is the operator of the World’s first Globalized Network and leader in integrated satellite solutions, Vodacom Business Nigeria will deploy the Intelsat EpicNG satellite services, which is a next generation of satellite technology; to enable its customers operate from anywhere in Nigeria.
Brian Jakins, Intelsat’s regional vice president, Africa Sales, said that Intelsat EpicNG enables higher data rate applications and smaller terminals that give enterprises the avenue to expand into new regions and take advantage of business opportunities regardless of where they occur.
He further noted that with the improved performance delivered by Intelsat EpicNG, Vodacom Business Nigeria’s customers will utilise the satellite services on Intelsat 35e to deliver fast, high quality and resilient broadband connectivity to the banking, oil and gas, and other sectors across West Africa.
“With plans in top gear to deploy the Intelsat EpicNG satellite services, this will enable Vodacom Business Nigeria to deliver an efficient, quick, reliable, secure broadband solution with a low monthly recurring cost within the shortest time to our enterprise customers,” Lanre Kolade, managing director of Vodacom Business Nigeria, said.
Kolade said that the agreement will further allow Vodacom to connect businesses located in places where there is no access to terrestrial and mobile networks, therefore bringing them closer to their employees, customers as well as other businesses, to remain operational and profitable.
“As a leading provider of corporate connectivity and telecommunications solutions, Vodacom always strives to stay up-to-date with the technological needs and requirements of the changing environment, hence the reason for this agreement,” said Kolade.
Vodacom Business Nigeria, a subsidiary of Vodacom Group, is one of the leading pan-African corporate connectivity and telecommunications providers. Vodacom Business works in partnership with businesses in sectors like oil and gas, retail, banking, mining, distribution and tourism.
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
