Gateway fast-tracks African expansion

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 09 Apr 2009

Gateway Telecommunications is accelerating its plans to connect all major African cities via satellite, fibre-optic cables and wireless communication streams.

The pan-African telecommunications company, which became a subsidiary of Vodacom after a $700 million (R6.5 billion) acquisition, says it is looking at developing communications infrastructure on the continent.

“It's been a short period post the acquisition and Vodacom has asked us to look for exciting investment opportunities in developing infrastructure,” says Gateway CEO Peter Gbedemah. “Our strategy from now is to rapidly expand the geographies which we operate in and to also provide connectivity to all the major cities in Africa.”

I have never been to an environment which has had too much connectivity.
Peter Gbedemah, CEO, Gateway

Gbedemah says Gateway is looking to leverage its customers, which span more than 40 countries in Africa, including Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania, to come up with ways of developing communication streams on the continent, including terrestrial and sub-sea fibre.

“We were doing pretty well before Vodacom acquired us and, with their investment in us, we can continue to do what we have always been doing, which is connecting people.”

Hybrid mixes

Gateway, which has 45 transponders of capacity on satellites and has pre-ordered capacity on Intelsat's New Dawn satellite, believes the best way of providing communications in Africa is through hybrid solutions that combine fibre-optic networks, satellite services and wireless broadband networks.

Gbedemah adds that Africa has an “insatiable” thirst for connectivity, which requires new ways of delivering services, especially to rural areas.

“I have never been to an environment which has had too much connectivity. The one thing I am certain of in Africa is that more money needs to be spent putting in connectivity such as terrestrial fibre.”

Gbedemah says this is only part of the solution and remote areas would need more local connectivity, which would be with the cellular backhaul being supported by satellite.

Satellite nirvana

With the launch of Eutelsat's W2A satellite last week, and the New Dawn satellite in early 2011, Africa is set to receive more than 50 transponders dedicated to providing the continent with cellular backhaul, Internet backbone, corporate networking, TV relay and broadcasting.

Out of the W2A satellite's 46 Ku-transponders, more than 14 will service North Africa, while 10 C-band transponders will provide a beam for southern Africa. The pan-African New Dawn satellite, spearheaded by Intelsat and Convergence Partners, will sport more than 30 physical transponders operating in the C and Ku frequency bands.

“Any additional satellite capacity, no matter who the service provider is, is always good,” says Convergence Partners executive Idan Segal. “Not only will cellular operators have more backhaul to work with, banks will also be able to connect to branches in remote areas via satellite.”