NATCOM taps into SAT 3 to deliver 4G services, changes NITEL name to ntel

NATCOM, the Nigerian consortium that acquired the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), has rebranded the company to ntel with focus on tapping into the potential of SAT-3, the undersea of the nation’s pioneer operator to deliver broadband services on long term evolution technology (LTE) also known as 4th generation network. Speaking at a Press conference in […]

NATCOM, the Nigerian consortium that acquired the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), has rebranded the company to ntel with focus on tapping into the potential of SAT-3, the undersea of the nation’s pioneer operator to deliver broadband services on long term evolution technology (LTE) also known as 4th generation network.
Speaking at a Press conference in Lagos, the Managing Director of ntel, Mr. Kamar Abass said the decision to leverage on SAT-3 rebound to drive ntel service delivery was part of a multi-pronged strategy by the Nigerian consortium to promote the new company as a key player in the telecoms industry.
According to him, with SAT-3 ntel will not only increase Internet bandwidth and penetration, but also boost transmission of broadband capacities from the shores of Nigeria into the hinterlands.
The SAT-3 undersea fibre optic cable system built by a consortium of national telecoms operators across Africa and beyond was formerly owned by NITEL prior to its acquisition by NATCOM.
Abass said, “There is no need to be contended with 3G any longer. We have the ability to give you fast Internet access not waiting till 2020, but as early as later this year. We are bringing in 4G and it will be the best broadband service available anywhere around the world.”
He said with full operations of the SAT-3 cable, Nigerians can now experience better and faster Internet services they have always craved for.
Abass, a former Country Manager of Ericsson Nigeria says that ntel’s promise to enable super fast broadband access is underlined by the firm’s over $1.2 billion investment riding on the back of the dilapidated assets and connections NITEL/MTEL left behind.
He said: “There is no need to be contended with 3G any longer. We have the ability to give you fast Internet access not waiting till 2020, but as early as later this year. We are bringing in 4G and it will be the best broadband service available anywhere around the world. The SAT3 submarine cable also boasts one of the lowest latency routes from Africa to Europe and is currently operated with full in-system protection. The doubling of its capacity positions it as the leading submarine cable with the widest reach in the world.”
According to him, ”SAT 3 has about 17 landing point in 15 countries, longest submarine cable and a total of 100Gb/s. It is a robust cable system. It is controlled by 35 member countries and NTEL has one of the highest share of the consortium.”
NTEL, he adds is also backing up the plan with the rollout of a data centre.
He said, “Also we are building a Tier III data centre, meaning we are just allowed to have a downtime of not more than 24 minutes per year, meaning we have double layer of redundancy of every component that service the data centre.”
The NTEL MD also says that, users of 2G network in Nigeria are over 117 million and there will be sharp decrease by 2020 to about 27 million users. Also 3G networks have about 36 million users in Nigeria and by 2020, we would have about 141 million users and 4G has 400,000 users and by 2020 it will get to 54 million users.
“This is the opportunity that NTEL intends to latch at in order to be the game changer by deploying a 4G network”, Abass added
“Nigeria is underperforming in relation to the amount of data that we consume and this is having impact on our GDP. It seems to me the evidence is compelling that when you don’t have as much throughput on data, it affects your productivity, which affects your wealth and affects your GDP and your investments.”