NigComSat, other telecoms providers may face stiff competition as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Monday issued a licence (landing permit) to UK-based Avanti Communication group for HYLAS-4 satellite space segment across Nigeria.
The Landing Permit which is the first of its kind in Satellite Communications in Nigeria is an authorization that Operators are required to obtain for their Satellite to be allowed to beam signal over the territorial integrity of a Country.
The Executive Vice Chairman NCC, Umar Danbatta, in his address at the commission’s Headquarters in Abuja, said the emergence of Avanti in the Nigerian space would make service delivery very efficient and affordable for subscribers.
“What we are looking for is number because we represent everybody so the more, the merrier,” he added.
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“Given the enormous opportunities offered by Satellite Communications as an alternative mode of Broadband service delivery, the Commission has approved a Landing Permit for the HYLAS 4 satellite space segment over Nigerian territory,”’ Danbatta said.
According to Danbatta, who was represented by the Director of Spectrum Administration, Austine Nwaulene, “AVANTI is the only operator that has invested in the installation of international gateways and data centres in Africa. AVANTI has a fleet of satellites and one of them which is called HYLAS-4, is used to extend coverage to West, Central and Sub-Saharan Africa, and it is one of these satellites (called HYLAS-4) that has been deployed to extend coverage over Nigerian territory.”
He disclosed that this satellite uses the latest Ka-band satellite technology and has additional capacity to the tune of ZGHz.
“This high capacity service has come to Nigeria through an International Gateway that has been deployed by one of our local operators. With such high capacity facility in place and easily accessible, our local operators can now be more encouraged to deploy services via satellite to serve the underserved/unserved areas hence bridging the digital divide currently being experienced by the Nation”, he said.
On her part, the chief regulatory officer of Avanti communications group, Ann Vandenbroucke, said they would provide a superior alternative to subscribers.
“We are working with the mobile operators here and that means that we can bring faster internet services because we are not providing satellite TV; we are internet in the sky so what we want to bring to Nigeria is immediate access because the satellite is there, it works everywhere. It enables immediate broadband access to anybody, everywhere,” she said.
“Our investment is very much in infrastructure and what happens with roles in terms employment in the economic growth is something that is realised through an echo system so we are looking for strategic partners to develops applications for an atom. It’s a bit like the rain, we are the clouds and we are beaming down capacity. We are a technology company, employment and economic growth and it’s a facility through the echo system,” she added.
According to Vandenbroucke, Avanti had two gateways: one in Lagos and the other in Johannesburg, South Africa. She explained that the c comp0any built two gateways to enable it to deliver quality service.
