The strike by employees of NITEL (Nigerian Telecommunications) and its mobile communication arm, Mobile Telecom (Mtel) has left customers using SAT3 cables no connectivity, leaving businesses unable to trade, and additional congestion on other networks. Internet users and international corporate users have all been affected by the shut down of Nigeria's only international fibre optic cable.
Gateway purchased additional C-Band capacity on MEASAT Satellite Systems' AFRICASAT-1 satellite in September 2008.
“NITEL provides a major international link from Nigeria to the world through the SAT-3 Cable infrastructure,” said Steve Chapman, commercial director: business services at Gateway Communications. “Gateway is one of the few companies that can provide the choice, flexibility and speed of implementing communications across wireless, fibre or cable, and can transition applications easily, migrating to another network. It's because of this that our Nigerian customers can rest assured that we can ensure quality connections are retained and actively managed for their domestic, national and international connectivity needs.”
