Nigeria wants 2 new satellites
November 1, 2016
By Chris Forrester
Nigeria is looking to order two Chinese-built satellites, in order to counter the amount of cash being spent with ‘foreign’ satellite operators for broadcasting and data capacity over Nigeria.
Nigeria’s government says the project will cost about $550 million (€550m), and the country is in discussions with China’s ExIm Bank to provide the cash.
The news emerged on October 29th at a meeting of the National Council on Communication Technology. Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu said the two satellites would complement the existing capacity provided by NigComSat, and would help serve those parts of the country not likely to be served by fibre.
He said that a lot of the country’s money was being exported out to sustain other economy through data storage.