Globacom Boosts Strategic Expansion Plan with Ceragon Deal

Globacom Boosts Strategic   Expansion Plan with Ceragon Deal

Telecoms

The 19-year history of the operation of Globacom Nigeria, an indigenous initiative owned by billionaire businessman, Michael Adenuga, is replete with stories of game-changing policies and landmark deals that set it apart from other players. Festus Akanbi, in this report, writes on the multimillion naira deal with Ceragon Networks Limited of Israeli to expand Glo’s broadband coverage across Nigeria

Last week, the Nigerian telecommunications industry was jolted by media reports announcing the landmark agreement between Globacom Limited (Glo) and Israeli network equipment supplier, Ceragon Networks Limited to expand Glo’s nationwide broadband coverage across Nigeria.

Details of the agreement show that Ceragon will be providing Globacom with a customised solution that covers long-haul rural areas, high-capacity metro as well as the access network – enabling it to not only enhance its existing subscribers’ quality of experience but also to expand its reach to grow its market share further. The project, initiated in Q4 2021, is due to complete deployment through the first half of 2022.

The Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) rates Globacom as the second-largest telecom services operator in Nigeria, with a 28.09% market share.

Ready for 5G Networks

However, the main gist of the multimillion deal was given by the Chief Executive Officer of Ceragon Networks, Doron Arazi, who disclosed that Globacom’s network will be ready for 5G, as Ceragon Networks’ solutions will provide Globacom with a 10-gigabyte-per-second (Gbps) network capacity over the air, with the ability to upgrade to 20 Gbps, if necessary.

According to him, “This capacity will strengthen the network of rural areas over long distances, high-capacity metropolitan networks as well as the access network.”

In a statement, Globacom explained that the network infrastructure extension aligns with its strategic expansion plans to build Africa’s biggest and best telecommunications network and provide quality telecom services to its customers.

It said, “We believe that our partnership with Ceragon will help in our desire to build the most robust, advanced telecommunications network. Ceragon’s field-proven solutions and services allow us to quickly and reliably ramp up our 4G and future 5G network and capacity needs while minimising our overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).”

Globacom, the Game Changer

Those familiar with the pioneering records of Globacom were not surprised by this far-reaching development which promises to be a game-changer in GSM operations in Nigeria. The perception in the industry is that although it did not participate in the recent 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum auction for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) technology to support the delivery of universal broadband services in Nigeria, where MTN Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Ltd emerged the two successful winners, Globacom was nevertheless putting its house in order because it planned to come out big, stronger and better. That was why last week’s report on the agreement with the Israeli company did not come as a surprise. The belief is -Globacom is set to take the stage by storm once again.

Right from its inception in August 2003, Globacom has made a very loud statement about its commitment to stay ahead of the competition in terms of technological revolution. It also ensured its services are affordable to all segments of Nigerian society.

Ending Per-Second Billing Debacle

As a company that does not fear challenges, Globacom became a game-changer when it launched on per-second billing which the older networks said was not possible. In doing that, Globacom became the first network in Africa to launch on a per-second billing platform. Trust the Nigerian market, immediately the company broke the jinx in terms of per-second billing, it became a household name and within nine months, it made history as the first network to amass a million subscribers in that space of time.

Still bent on making its services affordable and readily available to the Nigerian market, Globacom also made history by crashing the cost of SIMs from N20,000 and N50 a minute respectfully to as low as N200 and five kobos per second. The company has thus ensured massive telephone penetration in Nigeria.

By making telephony accessible to the common man, Glo is said to have accelerated national development. Industry watchers believed that the fact that over 170 million Nigerians in both urban and rural areas today have access to the telephone is attributable to the network’s intervention. The International Telecommunication Union, an agency of the United Nations, had in 2004 commended Globacom for playing a critical role in the revolution in the Nigerian telecommunication industry. It is reputed as the innovation leader in the industry in Nigeria and Ghana. It pioneered Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), mobile banking, mobile internet, vehicle tracking, prepaid roaming, in-flight roaming, etc.

Championing Technological Revolution

An analysis of the nation’s telecoms industry showed that Glo was the only operator in Africa to have launched its operations on the superior 2.5G network which enabled the convergence of voice, data and multimedia technologies.

The next stage was the introduction of the 3G Plus technology, which marked the second time that Globacom has been at the forefront of pioneering the latest transmission network in Nigeria, having introduced the 2.5G technology at launch in 2003 when other operators were running on the 2G platform. The 3G Plus technology enables much faster transmission of data, voice, broadband internet and multimedia services over a range of frequencies. It allows customers to do a video call, video streaming and high-speed mobile internet access, amongst others, from their 3G mobile handset.

Thereafter, the company became the first network to launch a nationwide coverage of the 4G-LTE network in Nigeria, thus availing its subscribers enhanced data transfer rates, unmatched mobile broadband experience and high data speeds and reliability.

Investing in Fibre Optic Backbone

It is also on record that Globacom has the most extensive fibre optic backbone across Nigeria. The facility was built to further enhance voice and data transmission for mobile and fixed telephone operations in the country.

Globacom has also contributed to boosting international connectivity in Nigeria by building and launching an international submarine cable, Glo 1. It was the first time a single company would implement such a massive undersea project in Africa. In addition to boosting the provision of services to telecom end-users, the facility is currently providing the much-needed connectivity to critical sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, commerce, education and health, among others.

The 9,800km-long cable has landing points in Lagos in Nigeria, Accra in Ghana, Senegal, Nouakchott in Mauritania, Casablanca in Morocco, Vigo in Spain, Bude in England, etcetera.

The company said Glo-1 delivers much faster and robust connectivity for voice, data and video. It explained further that in addition to boosting the provision of services to telecom end-users, the facility is currently providing the much-needed connectivity to critical sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, commerce, education and health, among others. This humongous subsea cable has increased internet connection between Nigeria and the rest of the world.

As part of its commitment to offer excellent service, Globacom had earlier signed a deal with Eutelsat of France for satellite deployment in the Nigerian market towards the end of 2021.

The partnership deal was coming at a time when the federal government approved the rollout of the 5G network in Nigeria, which will boost internet connectivity in urban and rural communities.

The partnership between Globacom and Eutelsat is expected to enhance the deployment of 500 Wi-Fi relay stations to far-flung rural areas, for connection to a Eutelsat satellite.

It was gathered that likewise, French group, Vocalcom, which already manages the software for Glo telecom’s call centres in Nigeria, is hoping to open a new deal in the mobile-money sphere with Globacom.

Therefore, analysts believed the latest business deal between Globacom and Ceragon Networks Limited will set a new threshold for GSM operation in Nigeria, especially when the assignment is completed by the first half of this year.

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