Advanced Television

Avanti adds a pair of African ‘Master Agreements’

February 12, 2019

By Chris Forrester

London-based speciality satellite operator Avanti Communications has added a pair of African ‘Master Service Agreements’, which – as yet – have no extra direct value attached to them but should help build turnover in Africa over time. The agreements cover access to Avanti’s latest satellite, Hylas-4.

One agreement is with Paratus Group, a Pan-African telecommunications operator, to provide high-speed satellite broadband across Africa. The Master Service Agreement extends the existing strategic partnership between Avanti and Paratus. Maxwell Technology who are part of the Paratus Group have been using Avanti’s Hylas-2 services since 2012.

The second is with MainOne, described as “a premier connectivity and data centre solutions company in West Africa” and which signed an agreement to jointly improve broadband penetration across Nigeria by providing the latest KA-band based satellite communication services to enterprises located in remote areas of the country. The companies made this announcement last Friday at Nerds Unite, an annual IT conference hosted by MainOne. The partnership is also backed with the commissioning and launch of Avanti’s new Gateway Earth Station (GES) in Nigeria, hosted at MainOne’s Tier III Data Centre ‘MDXi’.

Libby Barr, the newly-appointed COO at Avanti (who joined from BT), said “We are delighted to be partnering with MainOne and look forward to building a strong relationship to enable rollout of satellite broadband services across West Africa. Avanti’s products will greatly complement MainOne’s existing fibre-based networks by providing reliable connectivity services to its enterprise customers beyond its immediate fibre reach. We look forward to expanding our collaboration in serving the people of Nigeria and Africa with life-changing services.”

Avanti’s share price fell 3.5 per cent.

Categories: Articles, DTH/Satellite