Business Post Contributor
By Sodeinde Temidayo David
Nigerian multinational telecommunications company, Globacom Limited, popularly known as Glo, has signed a contract with Eutelsat Communications Eutelsat Konnect Satellite to extend its coverage to the underserved regions of the country.
The multi-year, multi-Gbps wholesale capacity contract was signed in Paris, in the presence of the French President, Mr Emmanuel Macron, and will enable Globacom to extend its coverage beyond the reach of its terrestrial infrastructure, while leveraging the Eutelsat Konnect satellite.
The service will be used to deliver high-speed broadband through the satellite to various businesses and communities in unconnected and underserved areas throughout Nigeria.
This new development is set to expand the reach and services of Glo to achieve the goal of serving more customers with good quality connections as the company remains the second largest operator in Nigeria, with a market share of approximately 28 per cent and over 51 million subscribers.
Eutelsat Konnect on its part is known to be a new-generation High Throughput Satellite offering unprecedented operational flexibility.
It also delivers significant resources for broadband services with almost complete coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa.
It will offer direct-to-user consumer and enterprise broadband services, with a comprehensive range of packages from bite-sized pay as you go vouchers through to monthly and annual contracts.
While commenting on the agreement, the Chairman of Globacom, Mr Mike Adenuga, expressed his optimism and delight to add the satellite services to the company’s portfolio, to extend connectivity to far-flung areas in Nigeria.
He further expressed that the new agreement is in line with the mission to build Africa’s biggest and best telecommunications network.
According to the telco boss, the infrastructure is set to complement the GLO-1 (Globacom-1) submarine cable and extensive fibre optic layout across the country.
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Eutelsat, Mr Rodolphe Belmer said, “We are honoured to have been selected by Globacom, one of the leading telecommunications operators in Africa’s most populous market, to extend the reach of its services.”
He further stated that this agreement illustrates the unparalleled resources of the Eutelsat Konnect satellite to satisfy the strong demand for connectivity in underserved regions throughout the African continent.
Eutelsat Communications is one of the world’s leading satellite operators. With a global fleet of satellites and associated ground infrastructure, Eutelsat enables clients across video, data, government, fixed and mobile broadband markets to communicate effectively to their customers, irrespective of their location.
