Defunct national carrier NITEL rebranded, plots to take over telecoms industry

Successive governments tried to revive NITEL and when it didn’t work, they decided to sell it to private entrepreneurs. 4 times, they tried and 4 times they failed until last year when a consortium called NATCOM made a bid, won and paid $252.2m NATCOM is set to launch in November with access in Lagos, Portharcourt and Abuja and that should be good news for all bloggers, music streamers, online movie entrepreneurs and owners of websites.

So, NATCOM which will operate under the brand name ntel is bringing superfast internet access to enable e-learning, e-medicine, e-business online shopping, but most importantly browsing, uploading, downloading or streaming at speeds of up to 30mbps and at very pocket friendly prices.

It is actually aligning its promises to the recommendations of the Presidential Committee mandated by the immediate past Minister for Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson to come up with a national broadband strategy and roadmap which would help Nigeria achieve a five-fold broadband increase by 2018.

The committee in its recommendations described broadband technology “as a transformative technology that levels the playing field and gives businesses access to regional, national, and international markets irrespective of geographical location.” before noting that for Nigeria to “become one of the world’s leading economies by year 2020, high-speed broadband networks that will provide every Nigerian with fast, reliable and affordable internet access is a fundamental requirement.”

READ: Defunct national carrier to return by November

NATCOM’s promise to enable superfast broadband access is underlined by the over $1.2bn it is investing in efforts to launch a new telecoms company riding on the back of the dilapidated assets and connections NITEL/MTEL left behind. Its ownership of SAT3 will also help with superfast internet from West to South Africa and Europe all the way to Asia.

SAT3 has just gone through its fourth upgrade which has boosted its system from 420Gbps to 920Gbps in the northern segments and from 340Gbps to 800Gbps in the southern segments. The cable upgrade addresses the global capacity demands for fast internet connectivity, data-hungry applications, high-quality video-on-demand and increasing social media usage, thus enhancing customer experience.

The SAT3 submarine cable also boasts one of the lowest latency routes from Africa to Europe and is currently operated with full in-system protection. The doubling of its capacity positions it as the leading submarine cable with the widest reach in the world.

NATCOM is launching in November and it will be good news for all bloggers especially those of us who still put up stories via our handsets.