(Left to right) Toby Shapshak, Keynote Speaker; Funke Opeke, CEO, MainOne; and Libby Barr, Chief Operating Officer, Avanti Communications at Nerds Unite 2019.

Avanti Communications and MainOne, a connectivity and data center solutions company in West Africa, have signed an agreement to jointly improve broadband penetration across Nigeria by providing the latest Ka-band based satellite communication services to enterprises located in remote areas of the country. The companies made this announcement on Friday at Nerds Unite, an annual Information Technology (IT) conference hosted by MainOne.

Under this arrangement, MainOne will leverage Avanti’s newest satellite, Hylas 4, launched in April 2018 to enable highly flexible capacity services with 100% country coverage of Nigeria. Such coverage is most critical and will accelerate the time to deploy internet broadband services into remote areas that are difficult to reach by fiber infrastructure. The partnership will also include the deployment of Avanti’s ECO initiative, which bundles broadband access, solar power and embedded Wi-Fi services for schools and small communities, ideal for deployment in remote parts of the country where power availability and connectivity services remain a challenge. The partnership is also backed with the commissioning and launch of Avanti’s new Gateway Earth Station (GES) in Nigeria, hosted at MainOne’s Tier III Data Centre ‘MDXi’.

Libby Barr, Chief Operating Officer at Avanti, said “We are delighted to be partnering with MainOne and look forward to building a strong relationship to enable rollout of satellite broadband services across West Africa. Avanti’s products will greatly complement MainOne’s existing fiber-based networks by providing reliable connectivity services to its enterprise customers beyond its immediate fibre reach. We look forward to expanding our collaboration in serving the people of Nigeria and Africa with life-changing services.”

Funke Opeke, Chief Executive Officer of MainOne, added: “Our partnership with Avanti provides Nigeria the opportunity to accelerate expansion of broadband internet via satellite, to bridge the digital gap and improve digital transformation for more Nigerians. Such services are most critical for the Oil and Gas sector, and for the delivery of social and educational services into rural areas of the country. Beyond connecting institutions, Avanti’s ECO solution also addresses the needs of their immediate communities and will accelerate getting more of our rural communities online.”