Nigeria - GLO undersea cable

Nigeria: GLO's Submarine Cable to Berth Country Next Year

By the middle of next year, the 9,500 kilometres submarine telecommunications cable being laid under the sea by Second National Operator, Globacom, would berth in the Nigerian under waters as its billed to be completed sometime in May.

The project which is expected to revolutionize the provision of telecoms services on the sub-continent and make services truly affordable to individuals and corporate organizations, is connecting Africa with Europe and the United States.

The submarine cable project, which Globacom said is costing about $250 million, runs from London to 14 West African countries, with a dedicated link to the US. The project, Globacom revealed recently, is expected to reach Ghana by May 2009, where it would shortly after, berth the Nigeria sea shore.

Making the revelation in Accra Ghana, as his company was formally presented the license to operate GSM by the country's National Communications Authority (NCA), Globacom's Group Chief Operating Officer, Mr Mohammed Jameel, said the project would enable more services and products to be introduced by Globacom.

He also promised that Glo would not disappoint the people of Ghana as it would replicate its success story in Nigeria and Benin Republic by giving the people value for their money. He said Glo would start operations in Ghana by the end of this year, and hopes to hit a subscriber base of two million in two years.

According to him, in Ghana, Glo has already gone to work to make this dream a reality. This, he said, would enable many Ghanaian businesses and individuals derive maximum satisfaction from Glo's services.

He added that Glo has applied to the NCA for 3G licence, which he was optimistic that Glo would get soon to improve its services together with the cable connection in addition to making bandwidth available for businesses that require it. These, he noted, would help Glo to provide high speed Internet connectivity, data and voice transmission, etc.

He gave kudos to the NCA for making the licence bidding process extremely transparent and also keeping to the timeline for issuing the licence as advertised.