SEACOM’s foundation customer connects businesses across Africa to high-speed internet.

Silvio do Carmo, Managing Director, Gateway Communications, East Africa & Angola

August 26th 2009 - Nairobi, Kenya - Two years after committing to the SEACOM project, Gateway Communications is live on the submarine fibre optic cable connecting Africa to Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. Gateway Communications was the first company to invest in SEACOM, which is bringing 1.28 Tbit/s of capacity to the continent.

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