Gateway Communications, the leading supplier of telecommunications services across Africa, has continued to expand its international reach with the establishment of an office in Beirut, Lebanon. The move is in response to the increasing traffic into and out of locations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the ongoing demand for connectivity within the region from Gateway’s existing customer base.
The MENA market has seen rapid privatisation in the last five years resulting in fierce competition to gain the largest market share in the region. According to Cisco’s Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update (February 2011), the Middle East and Africa will have the strongest mobile data traffic growth of any region (at around 129 percent CAGR) between now and 2015, with voice traffic demonstrating similar trends. As the carrier of choice for many of Africa’s largest mobile network operators (MNOs), the expansion to MENA is a natural progression for Gateway Communications. Leveraging its extensive experience in the African market, Gateway Communications will now also offer the highest quality voice, data and value added services (VAS) to the MENA region.
Gateway Communications has already established relationships with many leading operators in the MENA region in Morocco, Qatar, Sudan, UAE and Egypt. In addition to being the largest satellite provider to Africa, Gateway Communications also offers the advantage of a strong pan-African footprint with on-the-ground local expertise throughout the continent.
“Expanding our reach into the Middle East is an important step in our mission to connect Africa to the rest of the world, and helps us to fulfil our objective of strengthening our offering in North Africa,” commented Mike Van den Bergh, CEO of Gateway Communications, “The location of our presence in Beirut ensures we are geographically close to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, allowing us to work with operators who are looking for high quality inbound and outbound communications services in the region and across the continent.”
For more information on Gateways initiatives in MENA please contact:
Elie Jeitani
Director, MENA
elie.jeitani@gatewaycomms.com
Tel : +961 1 513 813
Gateway Communications expands services into the Middle East & North Africa New MENA office in Beirut opens for business
To be announced on the 9 November 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa
Gateway Communications, the leading supplier of African telecommunications services, has been nominated in both the ‘Best Backhaul Solution for Africa’ and ‘Customer Service Excellence Award’ categories at this year’s AfricaCom Awards.
The AfricaCom Awards recognises industry leaders and innovators in Africa’s telecommunications sector. Gateway Communications entered its innovative satellite utilisation solution, CellDirect, into the ‘Best Backhaul Solution for Africa’ category. This category recognises fibre, satellite or wireless solutions providers that that have significantly improved backhaul capacity. CellDirect uses Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) technology, which makes use of a sophisticated bandwidth manager to allocate satellite capacity – based on time, frequency and type of capacity available - in order to meet traffic demand. This increases satellite efficiency for mobile network operators (MNOs) and assists with reducing costs.
The Customer Service Excellence Award focuses on operators or service providers that have maintained an excellent level of customer service, or greatly improved their service since November 2010 .Gateway Communications prides itself on providing a reliable and fast service; innovative technology to resolve problems efficiently and timeously; regular performance reporting; and customer cost-saving solutions.
Winners will be announced at a gala dinner on the 9 November 2011 at the Waterfront Lookout in Granger Bay, Cape Town. For more information about the AfricaCom Awards visit: http://www.africacomawards.com/
Gateway Communications to showcase online trading platform at Comptel Spring Convention in Las Vegas
Gateway Online Trading is open to any operator holding a license to purchase international switched minutes. The services available through this online portal include a simple sign in process, automated credit management, online fault reporting management and provisioning and extensive African route selection.
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London, UK, February 15th 2011 – Rinphone and MobiMind, specialists in commercialising international telecom services, today announced their On Device Services (ODS) offering to Middle Eastern operators. The service will be supplied by Gateway Communications, a leading supplier of telecommunications services to Africa and the Middle East and Cibenix , an Irish-based mobile software and ODS vendor.
The combination of Gateway Communications’ market presence with the Cibenix ODS platform, will allow Rinphone and MobiMind to quickly deploy new value added services (VAS) to mobile operators thoughout the Middle East.
The offering includes a suite of compelling mobile internet content and services that mobile operators can offer their users in order to generate revenue and drive consumer data usage. Third party advertising is also bundled with the service, providing additional revenue and allowing mobile operators to promote their own services and brand their solution. The offering is available not just for high-end but also feature phones, thereby providing a mass market solution for today’s users.
Michel Doueihy, the General Manager of Rinphone explains that the service will first be launched in Saudi Arabia before expanding to other countries: “The Saudi market is one of the biggest in the region and very adaptive to all new technologies and services.”
“Consumer demands for mobile access to social networking content and acceptance of application downloads are just some of the recent trends that provide new revenue opportunities for mobile operators,” says Gerry Jones, Chairman, Cibenix. “We are delighted to deliver these services to Rinphone’s and MobiMind’s customers in the Middle East, and look forward to the many other prospects that lie ahead. “
“After agreeing a partnership with Cibenix in November to provide enhanced VAS to Africa and the Middle East, we are delighted with this first innovative step in our collaboration and look forward to the results that will be achieved by deploying services through Rinphone and MobiMind,”comments Mike van den Bergh, CEO of Gateway Communications. “Middle Eastern markets are dynamic and have huge potential for growth - through this initiative we will focus on consumer reach, service quality and the consumer experience.”
Verizon Business Expands Global IP Network Reach in African Countries by Teaming With Gateway Business Africa
BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Multinational corporations can take advantage of a new network alliance Verizon has formed with Gateway Business Africa that will expand Verizon Business Private IP network capabilities in several African countries.
The agreement allows Verizon Business to leverage Gateway Business’ network presence and extend coverage of the Verizon multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network to an additional 14 pan-African countries by using interconnection points between the companies’ networks. The MPLS network gives customers a scalable and flexible cross-continent IP business communications platform for continued growth and global reach.
Verizon Business customers now can access Private IP network capabilities in Tanzania and Kenya in Africa’s eastern region; Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon on the western coast; and Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa in the central and southern regions. Other countries to be added to the Private-IP Gateway interconnection arrangement are Uganda, Lesotho, Angola and Zambia.
“As a leader in developing and delivering global IP network solutions worldwide, this new agreement continues to meet our customers’ growing requirements for IP as the global business platform of choice,” said Ihab Tarazi, vice president of Verizon’s global network planning. “Our network alliance and the MPLS interconnect enables full traffic integration of Verizon Business’ global Private IP network with Gateway Business’ network in this important emerging market. As a result, our multinational customers can rely on a single secure global network foundation for their business operations around the world.”
Verizon Private IP customers benefit from six classes of service (CoS), and latency-sensitive applications, such as VoIP and video, receive priority over applications such as e-mail. The ability to prioritize applications, combined with advanced reporting tools for network and application performance to the desktop and user level, make Private IP an ideal global platform for business communications and day-to-day operations.
“As the leading pan-African telecommunications provider, we look forward to helping Verizon Business expand its MPLS network coverage to meet their customers’ needs in this growing region,” said Wally Beelders, CEO of Gateway Business, a Vodacom Group. “We take pride in our commitment to provide outstanding network connectivity using a unique mix of submarine and terrestrial cables and satellite connections.”
Verizon Business delivers a comprehensive portfolio of managed network services, managing 300,000-plus security, network and hosting devices across more than 4,200 customer networks spanning 142 countries and territories, all backed by industry-leading service level agreements. The company’s global infrastructure, one of the most connected IP networks in the world, provide a solid foundation from which to serve multinational corporations and government agencies.
Linda Laughlin
Verizon Business
001 918-590-5595
linda.laughlin@
Tom Tudor
Gateway Business Africa
0044 20 7173 1700
tom.tudor@gatewaycomms.com
About Gateway Business
Gateway Business is the leading provider of pan-African corporate connectivity and telecommunications. Gateway Business has customers in 42 sub Saharan countries and works in partnership with Africa’s largest businesses and many of the world’s principal corporations, helping them stay connected across Africa and into the rest of the world.
With large scale investment in Africa, including new network build and data-centres in southern east and west Africa, Gateway Business provide managed network services and hosted solutions across all sub-Saharan Africa. Gateway Business has 350 local experts on the ground in Africa who are specialists in Oil & Gas, Banking, Mining and Logistics & Distribution, supporting a customer base of over 2,000 corporations.
Gateway Business is wholly owned by Vodacom Group Limited, which is listed on the JSE Limited under the symbol VOD. To find out more, please visit www.gatewaycomms.com
About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world’s most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today’s extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees – enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world’s largest businesses and governments – including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions – rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com
VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.
Alison Merifield | Director, Corporate Communications | africa practice
RB House, 141 Greenway, Greenside, 2193, Johannesburg
Tel: +27 (0)11 022 6565 | Mobile: +27 (0)82 768 9740 | Fax: +27 (0)86 538 2832
Skype: alimerifield | Twitter: @alimerifield | www.africapractice.com
By utilizing Cisco technology, Gateway Business is able to use MPLS at the core of its pan-African network and a blend of fiber, wireless or satellite at the access level. Gateway Business is one of the largest independent providers of secure, high speed, reliable bandwidth services in Africa. Over 1,500 multi-national corporations rely on Gateway to deliver business critical information between head quarters and branch offices from simple voice solutions, to private MPLS virtual private networks (VPNs) and internet access.
In Nigeria, Gateway Business is deploying a national MPLS network, rolling out wireless broadband services across 36 different states in 2010 and 2011.
Gateway Communications, the group’s Carrier Services and Wholesale division, is also an investor in the West Africa Cable System (WACS), which will bring additional capacity in to Nigeria by June 2011. Through this agreement with Cisco Gateway will be able to immediately deploy a range of new services for customers in Nigeria, West Africa, and across the African continent.
ECI’s next generation XDM® multi-service provisioning platform will enable Gateway Business to deliver better node-to-node connection on Gateway’s pan-African network. The platform’s integrated management tools will also be able to carry out easy provisioning, better network protection, monitoring and maintenance for enterprise and wholesale customers.
ECI’s solution is also being used to carry Gateway’s international capacity on SAT3 that currently services the West coast of Africa. This investment is in anticipation of the West Africa Cable System (WACS) due in Nigeria in June 2011. Gateway Business, through its parent Vodacom, is a significant investor in the WACS cable with the right to land its own international capacity in Nigeria.
For SEACOM landing stations, Gateway Business has deployed ECI’s solution to carry the full capacity of its SEACOM network servicing the East coast of Africa. The network upgrade also includes a bond between Gateway’s East and West African networks through its European Backbone, effectively creating a submarine fibre ring network around the African continent.
In Nigeria, Gateway Business is currently upgrading the backbone network for inter-city, inter-state as well as the nationwide protected fibre rings. The investment further supports Gateway’s vision of providing Broadband Wireless Access and Managed Network Services throughout Nigeria. ECI supports Gateway’s vision of promoting advanced telecom solutions in Nigeria and across Africa, through the company’s 1Net framework for network optimisation and migration. With extensive experience in developing markets, ECI is in the premier position to partner with Gateway Business in these projects.
“We are seeing increasing demand for capacity between East and West Africa as carriers respond to business demand,” said Guy Clarke, Managing Director, Gateway Business Nigeria. “As a pan-African business services provider, we continue to make significant investments in our entire network to meet both current and future demand. Nigeria is without doubt Africa’s largest telecoms market and we continue to invest in infrastructure in Nigeria as we build-out our national terrestrial network allowing more business and enterprise customers access to terrestrial services both nationally and internationally. The construction of this network is the first step in realising our vision of being a significant provider of managed network services in the country.”
Source from : africapractice.com
June 14, 2010. London - Gateway Communications, the leading supplier of pan African telecommunications services announced today a partnership with Qatar Telecom (Qtel) that will ensure highest quality roaming and international voice for Algerian fans travelling to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.
The Qtel Group has a presence in 17 countries and provides coverage to a population in excess of 660 million people, with over 60 million consolidated subscribers across the world. Qtel Group subsidiary, Wataniya Telecom Algerie (Nedjma) enjoys healthy market share in Algeria and is the official sponsor of the Algerian National Soccer team
Given Algeria’s 21-year absence from the FIFA World Cup, a large number of excited Algerian football fans will be making their way to South Africa to cheer on their country. Qtel and Nedjma have been keen to secure best quality, stable roaming and international voice services for the Algerian representatives. Nedjma offers post-paid roaming with three South African operators, Vodacom, MTN and Cell-C, as well as pre-paid and GPRS roaming.
Gateway Communications was selected as the ideal partner for high quality international roaming services and high quality voice due to its extensive coverage in Africa and its direct access to more countries, operators and interconnects across the continent than any other carrier. The agreement allows Qtel and Nedjma to benefit from Gateway’s pan-African network reach and to deliver all Nedjma and Qtel traffic to African destinations in time for the 2010 World Cup.
“The World Cup is going to be very exciting for those able to travel to South Africa to watch the matches. By providing premium quality roaming, in partnership with Qtel, Algerian fans can concentrate on enjoying themselves, knowing that they can celebrate - with their friends and family at home at any time,” commented Mike Van den Bergh, CEO of Gateway Communications, “With the World Cup kicking off this week in South Africa, we’re delighted that our partnership with Qtel will allow even more African consumers to benefit from all of our direct connections and what it will mean to our business, connecting Africa to the rest of the world”.
Executive Director Mr. Ahmed Al Derbesti in Qtel International Services commented, “We are always on the look-out for partnerships that allow us to provide higher quality services to our customers. With the world cup just around the corner, the eyes of the world will be on Africa. It’s therefore a key time for us to ensure all our customers following this important event receive nothing but the best call quality. To partner with a company with the breath of coverage across Africa and caliber of expertise such as Gateway seemed the ideal choice to ensure this.”
Source from : africapractice.com
London, June 8th 2010 - Gateway Communications, the leading supplier of telecommunications services across Africa, yesterday claimed the prestigious award for “Wholesale Service Innovation” in partnership with SEACOM. The awards were announced last night at a black-tie Awards dinner in London.
The GTB Innovation Awards are designed to honour innovative projects involving telecoms operators and service providers around the world, in association with their vendors and suppliers. For the “Wholesale Service Innovation” Award, Gateway was assessed on a project that showed innovative contribution to the telecommunications sector.
The Award was given for Gateway’s MPLS services on sub-sea cable SEACOM. Gateway can provide direct connectivity along the length of the East African coast from Kenya to South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, as well as West Africa, Europe and the US, with its new MPLS network. This is the first and only fully redundant MPLS backbone on SEACOM serving the entire East African coast making high quality Africa to Africa networks a reality.
On receiving the Award, Mike Van den Bergh, CEO of Gateway Wholesale & Carrier Services commented, “We’re very proud of the work we’ve done over the past year with SEACOM. As one of the first investors in the SEACOM project, it was very exciting to finally go live in August last year. Since then we have been busy securing the right telecommunications licenses to ensure we can continue to build the infrastructure that connects businesses and consumers across the continent. It’s great to be recognised for our efforts and we will continue to work with partners such as SEACOM to connect Africa.”
Congratulating Gateway Communications and SEACOM, Alan Burkitt-Gray, editor of Global Telecoms Business commented, “This is the fourth time we’ve run our Innovation Awards and each year we’ve seen that the industry is working harder and harder to deliver exciting and innovative services to its customers worldwide. Congratulations to all the award winners. The industry is seeing a wave of innovation which is making a huge difference — to the companies working in the industry and to all of us in business and as consumers. They are making such a difference to the world. We want to celebrate what they are doing.”
Source from : africapractice.com
The cable, that runs from Europe, along the East Coast of Africa to South Africa, was launched last year and hailed as the provider of high-speed African connectivity. There was however a major unscheduled outage affecting a portion of SEACOM’s transmission network which lasted a number of hours on 4 June, causing widespread disruption to services.
Gateway Communications, which was one of the anchor tenants on SEACOM, operates a fully redundant MPLS network on SEACOM and is the only company able to offer MPLS services at any point or end-to-end on the cable. By midday on 4 June, Gateway had already re-routed all IP transits and connections over the SAT-3 cable which travels from South Africa along the Western side of Africa up to Europe. As a result, Gateway’s customers experienced minimal or no disruption due to Friday’s outage.
As in the previous case a month or so ago, when SEACOM was taken down to repair a fault in the Mediterranean, Gateway took the decision to re-route its customers over alternate fibre capacity at its own cost. Although many other operators decided to claim ‘unavoidable outage’, Gateway understands the financial impact and reputational damage which its customers face when they have no access to international fibre-based services for any period of time, and so moved swiftly to alleviate the problem, thereby providing the most reliable and dependable service available to countries connected to the SEACOM cable
Source from : africapractice.com
London April 28 Gateway Communications, the leading supplier of African telecommunications services, today announced that it is the only carrier on SEACOM currently operational in many East and Southern African countries following an outage on the sub-sea cable.
The cable, that runs from Europe, along the East Coast of Africa to South Africa, was launched last year and hailed as the provider of high-speed African connectivity. However, last week it announced that it was experiencing an interruption in its network on the Mediterranean section of the SEA-ME-WE 4 submarine cable system, which SEACOM currently utilises to connect to London.
Scheduled repair work over the weekend meant that all Internet Service Providers on the SEACOM cable would experience disconnections, as well as the many mobile phone operators who use the cable for their IP capacity. Although repairs were expected to be concluded quickly, as of Tuesday many customers in Eastern and Southern Africa are still experiencing problems.
Gateway Communications has a fully redundant MPLS network on SEACOM and is the only company able to offer MPLS services at any point or end-to-end on the cable. By Friday last week Gateway had already re-routed all IP transits and connections through the SAT-3 cable which travels from South Africa along the Western side of Africa up to Europe. As a result, Gateway customers have experienced no disruption and Gateway is one of the few carriers operational in South Africa and the only carrier that uses SEACOM operational in Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania.
Commenting on the situation, Silvio do Carmo, Gateway Communications’ Business Development Director, Wholesale said, “When such an outage occurs, the cost to businesses and inconvenience to customers is great and as such, we decided to re-route our connections at our own cost. Although many other operators decided to claim ‘unavoidable outage’, connecting Africa is what we do, even when the chips are down.”
Gateway Communications, which has the largest pan-African communications network with customers in 40 countries, successfully launched IPJetDirect last year using C band and Ku band satellites to deliver IP services to mobile phone operators in Africa. Newtec’s DVB-S2 VCM and DVB-S2 FlexACM technologies have been deployed on several platforms across the African continent to ensure maximum bandwidth efficiency and allow Gateway to make best use of the scarce satellite capacity over Africa.
“Gateway has always been a pioneer of high quality, cost effective voice and data connectivity across Africa. By using FlexACM it can now reach out even further to satisfy Internet demand – and without unnecessary further satellite capacity investment,” said Newtec CEO Serge Van Herck. “FlexACM’s unique ability to dynamically optimize an end-to-end satellite transmission is ideal in this situation and we are delighted to be playing a part in supporting Gateway’s drive to deliver truly world class communications solutions across Africa”, Herck added.
FlexACM combines a range of cutting edge technologies for implementing Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM), traffic shaping, payload compression and IP acceleration in a highly efficient way for IP trunking and IP backbone satellite links. In addition to doubling the capacity of an existing link, on average, it also guarantees 100 per cent availability of link reception, even when all other systems are down due to heavy rain fade. FlexACM can be used in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint systems, in one way (with terrestrial return channels) as well as two way configurations (with the return channel also over satellite). It can be used to upgrade existing satellite links without changing other elements of the transmission chain, such as the antenna or HPA.
“Newtec’s technology gives us a highly efficient method of delivering large quantities of data into small antennas and the Variable Coding and Modulation (VCM) functionality allows the same platform to address many different sized antennas in the same footprint,” explained Gateway CTO Chris Young.
“FlexACM is optimising the transmission dynamically and automatically. It is helping us in our drive towards easy and cost-effective Internet access and to make sure Africa leads the way global communications are moving”.
FlexACM is available on Newtec’s Elevation product family, which consists of DVB-S2 IP Satellite Modulators, Demodulators, Modems and Satellite IP appliances.
source : www.africapractice.com
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Gateway Communications is a Pan-African leader in telecommunication services connecting over 583 million people in over 40 African countries. It owns and manages a private all-IP, next generation network and will help Longphone to extend its African footprint with direct access to more countries and operators across the continent.
The agreement allows Longphone to benefit from Gateway’s voice connectivity offer as a serious boost to its already extensive continental network of direct routes. Gateway’s routes will be added to Longphone’s African rate offer, and will helping to improve both connectivity and profitability.
Eytan Cohen, Longphone CEO, identified Gateway as “the most suitable partner to help Longphone intensify its call termination business into Africa. By providing us premium quality routing with suitable and long-lasting capacity, Gateway becomes a strategic contributor to our full-African-connectivity commitment.”
Mike Van den Bergh, CEO of Gateway Wholesale & Carrier Services added, “These are fast-moving and exciting times for the African telecommunications sector. Gateway has more direct connections into Africa than any other operator and we are delighted to partner with Longphone to connect more consumers and businesses across the continent. “
source : www.africapractice.com
Gateway will roll out services across the ten states in 2010, with Port Harcourt and Abuja scheduled to go live in February 2010 and the company has committed to roll out the solutions to a further 14 states in 2011. The acquisition continues Gateway’s strategic expansion in Nigeria and investment in infrastructure.
“We are delighted that we are rolling out the highly successful AirlinkTM and MetrolinkTM products across 10 new states in 2010. This is a pure broadband 10mb solution with an MPLS backbone and with the flexibility to customise the solutions we provide to individual client needs” said John Dindlebeck, Managing Director for Gateway West Africa. “This expansion demonstrates our ongoing commitment to providing world class connectivity solutions in Nigeria and is a major investment. We have already seen significant interest in the service in roll out states from our existing clients in Lagos.”
The AirLinkTM and MetroLinkTM solutions are targeted at fast growing medium sized businesses looking for a reliable and customised connectivity solution to help drive growth and operational capacity. Clients already using the system in Lagos reacted to the announcement by saying:
“At Telnet Nigeria Ltd, we appreciate the level of consistency and the high performance of the broadband service that Gateway has provided us with. In fact as soon as Airlink is rolled out to Abuja and Port Harcourt we will be utilising the service in those branches too. We look forward to working with Gateway in the future and having the best quality Internet service provision from them.”
CIG, Telnet Nigeria, Lagos
“Our Internet connection has the speed and reliability we need to run our business effectively and we give Gateway credit for their immediate response to and resolution of issues at all times. We are currently working on opening a branch in Abuja and will be delighted to use Airlink once it has been rolled out in the region.”
Network Administrator, Camac/ Allied Energy
“Gateway has recently upgraded our service from VSAT technology to Gateway’s new Airlink Broadband service. We have recommended Airlink to our other companies in Enugu, Onitsha and Warri where we hope that the service can be rolled out soon.”
Head of IT, Nigerite
About Gateway Communications
Gateway Communications owns and operates the largest and most advanced pan-African telecommunications network. Our scale, reach and resources are unparalleled.
Gateway connects over 583 million people in over 40 African countries, working in partnership with the continents leading mobile phone operators.
Our business experts are creating prosperity across Africa by working closely with multinational corporations; in banking and finance, oil and gas, mining and construction, retail and distribution, airlines and other important sectors.
With more than 45 transponders of satellite capacity over Africa we manage more connectivity over the continent than any other operator. And with 24 dedicated teleports, access to multiple SAT-3 and SEACOM landing ports, 17 African offices and 450 local experts, we’ve got more on the ground support than any other operator.
Gateway is committed to developing long term communications solutions and investing for the long term in the communities where we operate.
We continue to be recognised for setting the standards for tomorrow’s communications in Africa.
Enquiries
Gateway Communications
Tom Tudor - Marketing Director
tom.tudor@gatewaycomms.com
Tel: +44 20 7173 1700
africapractice (London)
Jo Crawshaw
jcrawshaw@africapractice.com
Tel: +44 207 209 7507
africapractice (Johannesburg)
Ali Merifield
amerifield@africapractice.com
Tel: + 27 11 782 6468
Jo Crawshaw | Consultant | africapractice
Direct: +44(0)207 209 7507 | Mobile: +44 (0)7875 400 616
www.africapractice.com
africapractice provides strategic communications, corporate citizenship and environmental consulting services, delivered from regional hub offices across Africa and a coordinating office in London.
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SEACOM’s foundation customer connects customers across Africa to high-speed internet
As the foundation customer, Gateway’s investment in SEACOM is another example of its ongoing commitment to infrastructure build in Africa, allowing more innovative products and ensuring that Gateway provides the highest level of quality, speed and reliability at the most competitive prices.
SEACOM, privately funded and three-quarters African owned, is expected to provide bandwidth on an open access basis, allowing all operators to have equal access to the cable. SEACOM has created an artificial price ceiling to ensure wholesalers charge end-users the most attractive market rates available for their bandwidth.
The landing of SEACOM and other cables demonstrates that Africa’s information age is well underway. Expected to provide a high volume of bandwidth at a low cost, SEACOM will continue to open people’s eyes to what ICT can deliver – to consumers and businesses. It will provide competition and connectivity into markets, which will drive demand for faster applications run over any available bandwidth, including satellite.
Silvio do Carmo, Managing Director, Gateway Communications East Africa & Angola commented, “We are very proud of Gateway’s success in offering the best technologies available to meet the needs of our customers. We have ensured our service offerings on SEACOM are built to meet the highest specifications to guarantee the quality our customers receive remains second to none. We continue to invest in the latest cable, satellite and terrestrial networks, blending technologies across the whole of the continent ensuring service quality and network speed at the most effective price points.”
With customers in 40 sub-Saharan countries across Africa, Gateway’s African backbone plays a critical role at the centre of East African communications. Gateway has end to end capacity on the cable, connecting their African customers to the high speed European networks and the rest of the world.
In order to stay ahead of the market, Gateway’s consistent and prudent investment in infrastructure projects throughout Africa has maintained Gateway’s track record for quality, reliability and innovation. Rigorous testing, creativity in developing hybrid solutions, local support on the ground and pan-African scale all help to maintain Gateway’s rank as number one in pan-African connectivity.
About Gateway Communications
Gateway Communications owns and operates the largest and most advanced pan-African telecommunications network. Our scale, reach and resources are unparalleled. Gateway connects over 583 million people in over 40 African countries, working in partnership with the continents leading mobile phone operators.
Our business experts are creating prosperity across Africa by working closely with multinational corporations; in banking and finance, oil and gas, mining and construction, retail and distribution, airlines and other important sectors.
With more than 47 transponders of satellite capacity over Africa Gateway manage more connectivity over the continent than any other operator. And with 24 dedicated teleports, access to multiple SAT-3 and SEACOM landing ports, 17 African offices and 350 local experts, we’ve got more on the ground support than any other operator.
Gateway is committed to developing long term communications solutions and investing for the long term in the communities where we operate. Gateway has been recognised by the rest of the industry for setting the standards for tomorrow’s communications in Africa
Gateway has recently been awarded
· Wireless Network Infrastructure Innovation, Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards Jun 2009
· Best Satellite Service Provider 2009, SatCom Stars Awards April 2009
· Excellence in Innovation in Satellite Cellular Services, Intelsat Awards November 2008
· Best Wholesale Operator in Africa, Capacity Awards November 2008
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Gateway Communications
Tom Tudor
Tel: + 44 20 7173 1700
Email: Tom.Tudor@gatewaycomms.com
africapractice
Ali Merifield
Tel: + 27 11 782 668
Email: amerifield@africapractice.com
Jo Crawshaw | Consultant | africapractice Direct: +44(0)207 209 7507 | Mobile: +44 (0)7875 400 616
www.africapractice.com
Gateway Communications provides secure, reliable, on-demand satellite connectivity to Africa’s remote retail outlets
AfricaConnect for retailers, a satellite solution for flexible connectivity
London, 19 May 2009,
Gateway Communications, the leading provider of African telecommunications services, announced today the arrival of AfricaConnect for the South African retail community. AfricaConnect allows remote outlets a secure, reliable and flexible satellite solution for connectivity needs. This follows the successful implementation of Gateway’s AfricaConnect product in several other sector businesses, including banking, mining and logistics companies.
Retail outlets, shopping malls, gas stations and major eateries that do not need a constant internet connection, can benefit from a commercially attractive option, achieved through high utilisation of low bandwidth. Transactional applications, such as Point-of-Sale and ATMs where there are short-sharp bursts of traffic that traverse the bandwidth very quickly, can be managed using Gateway’s AfricaConnect for Retail.
Many of the IT applications used by the retail sector are not response-time dependant, such as the uploading and downloading of store information which can be performed after hours, or end-of-day statistics, product price specials, display adverts which can be scheduled for regular out of hours updates, so that multiple remote sites can access and share the same bandwidth.
“The reality is most retail outlets don’t need a dedicated link to be online 24x7. There are certain transactions that need to happen – but they do not have to be in real time and they do not have to take place at the same time for each outlet. Sharing a link among branches is far more cost effective – not least in a time when retailers are struggling with the current financial environment,” said Geoff Hardwick, managing director, Gateway Communications, Southern Africa.
The AfricaConnect for Retail product is based upon VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) technology, using both C band and the Ku band spectrum of satellite, which can be deployed at any and every location in South Africa. For South African companies working anywhere within the SADC region or the wider African continent, the same solution can be deployed and managed and controlled in South Africa.
“We see this product evolving to function as a back-up for when the primary, often terrestrial, link is down,” continued Hardwick. “It is very difficult to get alternate terrestrial connectivity for back-up in remote locations and repair times are generally quite slow due to problems of access. Using a product like AfricaConnect for Retail, a number of remote sites can be backed up with a pool of low bandwidth, giving management and HQ the assurance that neither operations, nor customer service will be affected.”
Gateway Communications is the largest independent provider of satellite network services in Africa, with more than 45 transponders of capacity, providing flexibility and speed of link provisioning.
About Gateway Communications
Gateway Communications owns and operates the largest and most advanced pan-African telecommunications network. Our scale, reach and resources are unparalleled. Gateway connects over 583 million people in over 40 African countries, working in partnership with the continents leading mobile phone operators.
Our business experts are creating prosperity across Africa by working closely with multinational corporations; in banking and finance, oil and gas, mining and construction, retail and distribution, airlines and other important sectors.
With more than 47 transponders of satellite capacity over Africa Gateway manage more connectivity over the continent than any other operator. And with 24 dedicated teleports, access to multiple SAT-3 and SEACOM landing ports, 17 African offices and 350 local experts, we’ve got more on the ground support than any other operator.
Gateway is committed to developing long term communications solutions and investing for the long term in the communities where we operate. Gateway has been recognised by the rest of the industry for setting the standards for tomorrows communications in Africa
Gateway has recently been awarded
• Best Satellite Service Provider 2009 SatCom Stars Awards April 2009
• Excellence in Innovation in Satellite Cellular Services Intelsat Awards November 2008
• Best Wholesale Operator in Africa Capacity Awards November 2008
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Gateway Communications
Tom Tudor
Tel: + 44 20 7173 1700
Email: Tom.Tudor@gatewaycomms.com
africapractice
Ali Merifield
Tel: + 27 11 782 6420
Email: amerifield@africapractice.com
source from : Jo Crawshaw, www.africapractice.com
London May 12th 2009 – Gateway Communications, Africa’s leading provider of telecommunications services to mobile operators, has been awarded a contract to provide Etisalat with cellular backhaul for its Nigerian mobile network. The deal, worth $6 million over a two year term, provides satellite cellular backhaul from Gateway Communications to Etisalat which will connect three major cities in Nigeria.
In awarding the contract to Gateway, Etisalat considered qualities such as high quality of service rendered, secure and reliable network services with local, on-the-ground support services available throughout Nigeria, amongst other criteria. Gateway has Nigerian offices in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano and provides technical support throughout the rest of the country. With more than 47 transponders of capacity, Gateway carries more satellite cellular backhaul in Africa than any other operator.
Nigeria is now the largest telecoms market in Africa. The Nigerian regulator reports over 64 million SIMs in operation at the end of January this year, with 23 million new subscribers signing up in 2008. This represents a growth of 55% in 2008. With a relatively low mobile penetration, a large population and a rapidly growing economy forecast to grow at almost 8% again this year, Nigeria is certainly one of the continent’s most exciting markets.
Commenting on the business relationship, CEO Etisalat Nigeria, Steven Evans said, “Given the rapid rate of mobile adoption in Nigeria and what this represents in terms of opportunity, Nigeria is undoubtedly a key market for Etisalat. It was therefore key for us to find a partner that understands both the local market requirements as well as the complete technology landscape across Africa. As the most successful supplier of satellite cellular backhaul in Africa, Gateway Communications has expertise in both these areas. We are therefore confident that our desire to roll out our services across Nigeria in the shortest possible time will benefit from this promising business relationship”.
Managing Director, Gateway Communications Nigeria, John Dindlebeck, said “Gateway Communications has been working in Nigeria for over 10 years now and has always considered West Africa as an important market. In that time, Gateway has gained a deep understanding of the local market and has created a tremendously strong business across the region. It is great that Etisalat have recognized the high quality of our services here in Nigeria and we look forward to supporting them, building on their success and extending their footprint in this exciting market. As the largest provider of independent satellite services in Africa, we’re confident that we have the expertise on the ground as well and the world class technologies to meet Etlisalat’s exact requirements.”
About Etisalat
Currently standing at the 140th position among Financial Times’ top 500 corporations in the world, Etisalat is the largest provider of telecommunication service in Africa and the Middle East and serves a growing aggregate customer base of 74 million subscribers across Africa, Middle East and Asia. Etisalat currently has footprints in 18 countries in three continents across the world.
About Gateway Communications
Gateway Communications own and operate the largest and most advanced pan-African telecommunications network. Our scale, reach and resources are unparalleled. Gateway connects over 583 million people in over 40 African countries, working in partnership with the continent’s leading mobile phone operators.
Our business experts are creating prosperity across Africa by working closely with multinational corporations; in banking and finance, oil and gas, mining and construction, retail and distribution, airlines and other important sectors.
With more than 47 transponders of satellite capacity over Africa, Gateway manages more connectivity over the continent than any other operator. And with 24 dedicated teleports, access to multiple SAT-3 and SEACOM landing ports, 17 African offices and 450 local experts, we havemore on the ground support than any other operator.
Gateway is committed to developing long term communications solutions and investing for the long term in the communities where we operate. Gateway has been severally recognised by the telecommunications industry for setting the standards for tomorrows’ communications today in Africa
Awards Gateway have received in recent times include:
· Best Satellite Service Provider 2009 SatCom Stars Awards April 2009
· Excellence in Innovation in Satellite Cellular Services Intelsat Awards November 2008
· Best Wholesale Operator in Africa Capacity Awards November 2008
MEDIA CONTACTS:
africapractice
Ali Merifield Tim Newbold
Tel: + 27 11 782 668 Tel: + 234 (0) 1496 7558
Email: amerifield@africapractice.com Email: tnewbold@africapractice.com
Gateway Communications
Tom Tudor
Marketing Director
Tel: + 44 20 7173 1700
Email: Tom.Tudor@gatewaycomms.com
Source from : Jo Crawshaw, www.africapractice.com
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