Nigeria’s first telecom cable system, SAT -3, formerly owned by the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) has been reconnected by new owners, Natcom Development and Investment Limited, and is expected to change the face of broadband services in the country, industry watchers say.
Natcom has announced that SAT-3 which served as the nation’s only source of internet connectivity until recently, when other private cable operators were introduced into the market, would soon be re-launched.
With the recent takeover of NITEL by Natcom and the re-absorbtion of the SAT-3 submarine cable system into the Nigeria, industry watchers suggest that this development will create the advantage of internet speed and lower costs, as a result of stiff competition among the other cable options and the largest, oldest telecom cable system- SAT-3.
Lanre Ajayi, president, Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), told BusinessDay that “there is absolutely no worry about whether or not Natcom will deliver better service with the return of SAT-3 submarine cable. “The mere fact that there are other options deepens competition and will enhance capacity.”
Ikechukwu Nnamani, chief executive officer of Medallion Communications, said the new company has undue advantage to provide the best quality of service because of SAT-3‘s last mile facility. “Nitel as it were, is a national carrier, and so the value attached to the sale is huge,” he said.
BusinessDay learnt that before 2009, Nigeria largely depended on the SAT-3 cable system, which was a significant technology and commercial breakthrough for Africa, especially coming at a time when it had no direct source of internet connectivity.
At the time, its services were fraught with challenges, which ranged from high cost of internet bandwidth cost, to loss of connectivity, whenever the cable suffered some cuts or damages from countries along the West Coast of Africa.
The challenges continued until sometime in 2009, when restoration of a damaged submarine cable in Republic of Benin, by Suburban Telecom, rejuvenated several online businesses in Nigeria, which were at the brink of collapse, as a result of the disruption of Internet connectivity caused by the damage.
Thereafter, Glo-1, a private cable company, landed another submarine cable on the shores of the country, stretching from the United Kingdom to Nigeria, with lots of promises that Nigerians would begin to enjoy fast internet connectivity at reduced rates.
And in July, 2010, Main One Cable System went live. The privately owned company also promised that the landing of its submarine cable would drive down the cost of internet bandwidth, increase penetration at reduced cost, with high speed connectivity.
During a facility tour of Main One’s Cable Landing Station (CLS), Funke Opeke, the company’s chief executive officer, said “the cable will provide on day one, 1.92 terabits per second, it has the capacity to do that. And, we believe that we will be able to install 40 gigabit wave length system, which is the next upgrade on this same cable system, and get significant improvement beyond the 1.92 terabits, through the life cycle of the cable.”
In 2012, telecommunication company, MTN landed the West Africa Cable System (WACS) on the shores of Nigeria, which is another submarine communications cable linking South Africa with the United Kingdom, along the west coast of Africa.
Like Main One, MTN promised to significantly reduce the cost of internet bandwidth in Nigeria and deepen broadband penetration. Analysts suggest that these promises would finally be fulfilled with the re-introduction of SAT-3.
Jumoke Akiyode
