| Historic Landing
…As Glo-1 arrives Nigeria
Shores
By BISI OLALEYE
Tuesday, September
8, 2009
 |
•
Adenuga
Photos: Sun News Publishing
|
|
The Chairman, Globacom Group, Mike Adenuga Jnr, has finally
delivered on his promise to be the first Nigerian and sole
company to crash the price of bandwidth and ensuring that
there is rejuvenation in telephony in Africa by the arrival
of Glo 1.
In the past, the feat used to be achieved by a consortium
of countries, and it is the first project to be embarked upon
by any single organisation in the world. The practice all
over the world is for organisations or countries to team up
and build such facility. For instance, the SAT 3 is owned
by 23 African countries and when Glo promised to achieve the
unachievable then, there was some sort of disbelief among
critics until the dream became a reality.
The much expected Glo submarine cable finally arrived the
shores of Nigeria on Saturday morning (5th September) having
travelled from the United Kingdom (UK) through several coastal
countries. The multi-million dollar contract was awarded to
Alcatel –Lucent of France, who are leaders in submarine
cabling, while the cable is 9,800 Km long to carry data and
internet traffic between Nigeria and the rest of the world.
According to the Executive Director, Human Resources, Glo,
Mr. Adewale Sangowawa, the feat was the beginning of a new
dawn in telecommunications in not only Nigeria but also in
the West Africa sub region.
“About two years ago when we commissioned the Glo1 submarine
cable project, many wondered whether Globacom would be able
to pull this ambitious project through. Globacom has rewritten
history, just as we did with Per Second Billing (PSB); Glo
has made possible that which was thought impossible. With
Glo1, Globacom has taken a huge leap to avail Africa the magical
possibilities of broadband.
“Glo 1, submarine cable connects West Africa to the
UK and has landing points in Lagos and Bonny in Nigeria ,
Bude in London and Lisbon in Portugal.Glo-1 is also deploying
18 branching units to connect countries in West Africa . The
capacity of Glo1 will fulfil the present and rapidly increasing
high data requirement in West African sub-region. It also
complements our nationwide optic fibre cable, the first phase
of which has been completed. The facility provides a better
alternative for bulk voice and data transmission requirements
than satellite and micro-based transmissions”.
Sangowawa further added that the symbolic landing of Glo1
coincided with Globacom sixth anniversary and that his company
was still committed to the vision of building the biggest
and best telecommunications company in Africa . He stressed
that before the end of this year, Glo 1 will kick off and
Nigerians would be able to enjoy enormous broadband, with
little or no disruptions during browsing and at an affordable
price.
“Last June, Glo mobile, Benin marked its first anniversary
and is already the second largest operator over there, while
Glo mobile Ghana is scheduled to start operation before the
end of this year. Our fixed line service has also commenced
operation for corporate Nigeria and will soon be formally
launched in several cities in Nigeria ,”he pledged.
Project Manager, Glo 1, Kayode Adebiyi, who explained the
technical details, disclosed that the speed of Glo1 is less
than 100 Mm per sec as against the usual 300 Mm per sec. He
informed that it offers a 99.9 per cent up time reliability,
world-class long distance voice, video and data communications
services to the African customer.
“Glo 1 provides connectivity from Lagos to Bude in UK
through fibre optic cable laid undersea. The cable is 32 STM
64 types has virtual infinite capacity and offers
sufficient capacity for traffic for the Globacom’s mobile,
fixed and internet services. Alcatel-Lucent will provide one
STM 64 submarine cable capacity from UK to New York to connect
Nigeria to the United States (US) to provide clear voice calls
and high-speed data/internet transmissions services. The undersea
cable is designed with the latest technology and it is the
first such state-of-the-art submarine cable that will connect
Nigeria directly to UK and further to the US , the two major
data hubs of the world”.
Head, Gateway Glo ,Ibrahim Fadipe also assured Nigerians that
what happened to SAT 3 will not happen to Glo1,while promising
to give competitive tariff rate, make it available in Africa,
Nigeria and for all corporate individuals.
For the commercial launch of Glo1, Fadipe noted it would be
in six weeks time, and he disclosed that other network operators
are now talking with Globacom for Glo1 connectivity.
He also added that 12 Nigerians were sent abroad to Alcatel
University to be trained and integrated on how to maintain
the submarine cable.
According to Kayode Adebiyi, Project Manager,Glo-1,other opportunities
offered by Glo1 include E-medicine, E- banking ,E- learning
,call centres, disaster management and telecommunication,
all these are meant to make life easier for Nigerians and
Africans at a more reduced price.
|
