• Intelsat has announced the launch of a CellBackhaul solution in Nigeria to serve the larger West Africa region.
• It will support mobile network operators (MNOs) and internet service providers (ISPs).
• It will also be added to existing platforms in several other African countries delivering services across thousands of cell towers.

As we get ready for Africa Tech Festival next month, Intelsat has announced the launch of a new connectivity solution in Nigeria that will support the larger West Africa region.

To that end, it is a satellite cellular backhaul service platform called Intelsat CellBackhaul Nigeria, which is located at the Open Access Datacentre (WIOCC) in Lagos.

The company cited in a release shared with Hypertext, the fact that Sub-Saharan Africa is a region with the widest usage and coverage gaps, at 59 percent and 15 percent respectively. It added that almost half of the 400 million people who lack mobile broadband coverage worldwide live in Sub-Saharan Africa, therefore closing this gap remains a major challenge.

To address this, Intelsat CellBackhaul Nigeria will serve as a fully managed cellular backhaul service, and will support mobile network operators (MNOs) and internet service providers (ISPs) in Nigeria, along with West Africa.

“The new Nigeria solution will be added to the existing platforms in several other African countries delivering services to millions of people across thousands of cell towers,” the company added.

“This is a great day for Intelsat, Nigeria and West Africa, bringing new capabilities and solutions to the market. Satellite technology is critical to closing the digital divide. To connect unconnected populations in rural and remote locations, satellite backhaul is often the most viable option for a rapid, reliable, cost-effective connectivity solution,” enthused Rhys Morgan, RVP for EMEA at Intelsat.

For those wanting to find out more about Intelsat CellBackhaul, head here.

[Image – Photo by Emmanuel Ikwuegbu on Unsplash]