Gateway Communications has increased its presence in West Africa having signed two deals in Guinea, expanding its work with Intercel and agreeing a new contract with ETI SA.
p style="text-align: left;">Gateway Communications has increased its presence in West Africa having signed two deals in Guinea, expanding its work with Intercel and agreeing a new contract with ETI SA.
Gateway is now working with two major mobile operators and an ISP in Guinea, a country with a mobile penetration of 21.43 per cent (ICT Indicators Database 2007) and five mobile phones for every landline. Guinea’s telecommunications industry is flourishing and Gateway intends to continue to expand its presence in Francophone Africa. Gateway also has established carrier customers in Senegal, as well as Benin, Chad, Niger and Ivory Coast.
In 2009 Gateway Communications upgraded its agreement with Intercel Guinea to provide inbound and outbound voice and cellular backhaul services. This was the logical choice for Intercel Guinea as explained by Djibril Tobe, CEO.
“We required a solution that would efficiently address our international voice requirements as well as deliver a swift return on investment. A key part of this was engaging a provider with a depth of technical expertise that could provide the support we’ve come to know and trust throughout our long-term relationship with Gateway.” Intercel is Guinea’s major telecoms provider and Gateway supplies all of its international connectivity and critical backhaul services. Throughout this six year partnership with Intercel Guinea, Gateway has built a national backbone of cellular links, connecting five major cities via cellular backhaul including Kankan, Labé, Mamou and Nzékoré.
During this time Gateway also partnered with ETI SA for use of their earth station equipment and providing satellite capacity. ETI SA, Guinea’s leading Internet Service Provider (using WiMAX and ADSL) operates out of Conakry and currently focuses on business customers with a view to moving into the consumer market in the future. Gateway provides internet capacity from Conakry to Europe and delivered and implemented its pure SCPC connection via satellite in less than ten days.
Gateway continues to do business throughout West Africa, helping customers achieve their commercial goals. A reliable telecommunication network is essential to enable West Africa’s progressive and successful businesses to continue to thrive. In neighbouring Senegal, Gateway is working with Sonatel to provide international voice services for its ever-growing subscriber base.
As part of the France Telecom group Sonatel holds about a two thirds market share. Senegal is seeing a rapid increase in voice traffic with mobile penetration rates now at 51.63 per cent. Gateway has been creating an enabling environment for voice traffic growth by working closely with customers in Africa and Europe to maintain high quality routes for Sonatel and its roaming customer base.
“The demand for capacity is growing fast in Africa, and countries such as Senegal and Guinea have burgeoning telecommunication markets that are becoming increasingly vibrant. With unsurpassed access to satellite, sub sea cable systems and a pan-African terrestrial network, Gateway continues to provide the widest choices for voice and data for international and local traffic in Africa,” said Mike van den Bergh, CEO of Gateway Communications.
