MainOne’s data centre operation MDXI has formed a partnership with Avanti to built a Nigerian satellite gateway.
Avanti has invested $20 million in the earth station, which is hosted at MDXI’s satellite farm in Lagos. The new station serves Avanti’s Hylas 4 satellite, ensuring it is interconnected with other networks in Nigeria.
Hylas 4 delivers broadband services for homes, small and medium enterprises, rural schools, large enterprises and government agencies, as well as backhaul for 2G, 3G and 4G mobile networks.
Gbenga Adegbiji, general manager of MDXI, said: “Working closely with Avanti, our engineers have already implemented a bespoke colocation solution to support the largest gateway earth station in the region with uninterrupted power, connectivity and security to ensure 24/7/365 operations.”
Avanti CTO Dave Bestwick said the project would guarantee employment opportunities in ICT, engineering and communications to indigenes, as well as enable a huge leap towards economic growth in the ICT sector in Nigeria.
“We are delighted to be partnering with MainOne and MDXI to rollout satellite broadband services across Nigeria and west Africa,” he said. “Avanti’s products will greatly complement MainOne’s existing network and provide reliable broadband connectivity to places within the region without terrestrial fibre connectivity.”
MainOne said that MDXI has been chosen to launch this project in west Africa based on its capability to deliver mission-critical data centre services and provide extensive interconnection with other operators, internet service providers and the Nigerian Internet Exchange.
Adegbiji said: “While ineffective distribution of available bandwidth inland continues to hinder Nigeria’s broadband targets, our partnership with Avanti provides Nigeria the opportunity to make accelerated broadband expansion possible via satellite, to overcome last-mile gaps experienced in fibre infrastructure and enable the attainment of 30% broadband penetration target in the National Broadband Plan.”
