Kenya: Press Releases: Gateway Communications Awarded NFP Licence in Kenya

Friday, 06 November 2009

Nairobi, 6 November 2009 – --- Gateway Communications has been awarded three new licenses, including the Network Facilities Provider (NFP) Tier 2 Licence by the Communications Commission of Kenya. The new licenses further Gateway’s drive to build a pan-African connectivity network that covers every major African city, based on satellite, submarine cable and terrestrial (fibre) infrastructure.   In addition to the NFP, Gateway has secured its Application Services Provider (ASP) license and its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) license. The awards mean that the leader in pan-African telecommunications can build infrastructure in Kenya and deliver telecommunications services to end users, to undertake the “construction, installation and operation of electronic communications systems in Kenya”.   Gateway now has the first and only fully redundant MPLS backbone on SEACOM in Kenya, which interconnects South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Europe. This provides guaranteed quality of service to business and carrier customers, who can also prioritise voice or data traffic over the MPLS network. “Kenya has always been considered the hub of East Africa, which means a lot of multinationals are headquartered in Nairobi, but require reliable communications up and down the East Coast,” said Silvio do Carmo, Managing Director for Gateway East Africa. “Gateway can now provide direct connectivity for businesses from Kenya to South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, as well as Europe and the US, with our MPLS network.”   Following gaining the licenses, Gateway will continue to invest in infrastructure in East Africa, and is installing its own satellite teleports in Kenya. The company is also building two terrestrial teleports in Nairobi to offer national and international connections for sectors such as banking, mining and retail. In addition, Gateway already has  a reinforced 4th layer power back-up system. Gateway opened an office in Kenya at the beginning of 2009 to work with major customers in East Africa, with increasing demand for pan-African communications. Gateway was a foundation customer and one of the first investors in SEACOM, the 13,700km under-sea cable, connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Kenya with India and Egypt that is bringing high-speed connectivity to East Africa for the first time.   “Opportunities abound in East Africa and we are very excited about the prospect for more and better connectivity improving access to education, information and global networks. Having opened offices in Nairobi and Kampala this year, we are already expanding our services and network. The license agreement in Kenya means that we can continue to offer communications across satellite, wireless systems or cable and providing the infrastructure to meet the ever-growing demand of carriers and businesses across the region,” added do Carmo. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Show/Hide comment form Name Email Title Comment smaller | bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage. Add Comment