Not
Quiet on the Western Front
West Africa is well represented at the 2010 World Cup, with the qualification of Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana. This is matched by Gateway’s increasingly well established West African presence.
In 2009 Gateway expanded its activities in Francophone
Africa with carrier customers in Senegal, Benin, Chad, Niger,
Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina
Faso. Gateway also rose to various challenges in countries
like Guinea.
Gateway has signed two new deals in Guinea, expanding its work with Intercel, a private telecommunications company that operates local and national cellular telecommunications networks, and agreeing a new contract with ETI, an ISP.
In a country with a mobile penetration of 21.43% (ICT Indicators Database 2007) and five mobile phones for every landline, Gateway is working with Intercel Guinea to provide voice and data services. Having worked with Intercel Guinea for six years, Gateway has built a national backbone, connecting five major cities including Kankan, Labé, Mamou and Nzékoré.
Gateway began working with ETI in 2009, the ISP
operating out of Conakry that focuses on business customers, with
a view to move into the consumer market. Gateway is providing internet
capacity from Conakry to Belgium and implemented its pure SCPC connection
via satellite in less than ten days.
In neighbouring Senegal, Gateway is working with Sonatel to provide international voice services for its ever-growing subscriber base. Sonatel is part of the France Telecom group and holds about a two thirds market share. Senegal is seeing dramatic and continued increases in voice traffic with mobile penetration rates now at around 51.63%.
In Burkina Faso, since 2009, Gateway has been the main international minutes supplier – and only international carrier for Telecel Faso; likewise in Côte d'Ivoire, Gateway began working with Côte d'Ivoire Telecom in September to terminate regional traffic.
Gateway continues to bolster networks in Anglophone markets including Ghana, where Gateway has recently partnered with Tigo/Millicom Ghana to provide it with international and original voice termination. Work began this year with Nigeria’s Multi-Links to terminate its traffic from countries including the Caribbean, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominican Republic.
Further partnership agreement talks are in progress, keeping us busy on the Western Front.
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Belgium