Gilat Satcom, an established provider of fibre and satellite connectivity in Africa, has reiterated its keen interest in providing major improvements to its shared service which will provide home users and small offices with the fastest, most reliable and cost-effective satellite connectivity in Nigeria.
Dan Zajicek, Gilat Satcom’s chief executive officer, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek at a conference in Lagos, that the Company is delighted to be part of the history in providing a re-engineered ground to address Nigeria’s infrastructural woes in the ICT environment.
He said: “The event is about Gilat Satcom’s Telecommunications and ICT activities in Nigeria. As we see it, Nigeria is very advanced and growing very rapidly. In the infrastructure side, there are two layers; the electricity layer, which we know there is a huge investment in the grid. It is good news for everybody on the upgrade of the service. Up on this layer is the telecommunication layer and we in Gilat will like to be part of the influence in the Nigerian market, particularly to ensure reliability.
“Gilat is providing, basically, full turnkey telecommunication solution. It is comprised of fibre and satellite solutions. We have office here in Lagos which harbours a Satellite dish that can provide domestic services”.
Zajicek added that as a subsidiary of world renowned IT Company and have invested in Companies like Wacc, Gilat also has fiber connectivity coming to Nigeria.
“We are working by helping our customers provide full turn-key solutions for connecting remote sites to headquarters. At the end of the day, the target is to ensure service level agreement (SLA), quality service in a very unique and in reliable way. What we are focusing on at this event is the mobile satellite services (MSS), which we are a partner of our worldwide products and other services.
“In this arena, we are selling services like the radio phones; used to connect to satellite in remote areas. We have solutions that you can use to monitor your freight. When you have a GSM, you can use the GSM services, but when you are out of network coverage then it automatically switches to Satellite platform. It covers all the areas, including the hinterlands”.
Speaking on the affordability of the solutions, he said, “We have been operating in Nigeria for over a decade now and are aware of the service and price levels in the market, thus Gilat Satcom has made the solutions to be affordable to all the segments. Sometimes, it depends on how much technology and redundancy plan, can they blend with the solution you are bringing in.
“Regarding the pricing, we have a solution that provides connectivity in a very attractive pricing. If used in a residential area, you can pay in gigabyte consumption and not necessarily buying the whole service. There are the limited and unlimited plans. You can do the uplink via the GSM and the downlink from the Satellite. The combination enables you have affordable value for money; that is quality service in a low cost.
“We are improving on our portfolio in this segment and of course, the governments are where we have a different portfolio. The unique thing is since we know the market, how it feels and as subsidiary in Nigeria, so we keep getting the feedback from the market.
“We are not just concerned on building the portfolio; we are working assiduously to meet the needs of the customers. So, it is like we bring in our solutions and hope the market adjusts to it, however, we know what they want, we know that pricing is very important; we give them the technology that will satisfy their needs in an affordable costs. So, we know how to put the right solution to the right market channel”.
The Company had recently announced the availability of Aguila 3rd Generation following years of R&D by the Gilat Satcom team. Re-engineered from the ground up, the new Aguila service provides customers with:A Fair Access Policy (FAP) which is unmatched across Africa. As part of the FAP, Gilat Satcom’s Committed Information Rate (CIR) is up to 100% higher than the current average in Africa.