MobileWorld:
Tell us a little about history of Gateway Comm

Peter Gbedemah:
Peter Gbedemah and Julian McIntyre, founded Gateway Communications in 2001 and this was soon followed with the purchase of FirstNet. The company then grew significantly in 2005 with the acquisition of Link Africa, a provider of telephone switched minutes and pan African GSM backhaul services, followed by further expansion in 2007 with the purchase of the GS Telecom group. Last year, Gateway Communications diversified its telecoms portfolio with a move into Satellite broadcasting, launching Gateway Broadcasting Services (GTV), of which Julian McIntyre is also president.

MobileWorld:
So how big is Gateway comm.? How many clients do you have on your book?

Peter Gbedemah:
The company has grown from a start-up in 2001 to a quarter billion dollar entity, servicing well over half a billion people in 40 African countries. Over the past year, Gateway Communications has seen fantastic growth, quadrupling its team to more than 450 industry experts, and increasing on-the-ground local support across17 African offices. Gateway owns and manages the most advanced, privately owned pan African telecoms network. It is the largest provider of satellite VSAT calls, and the largest independent provider of business network solutions in the continent, delivering high quality connectivity solutions to hundreds of network operators, and thousands of businesses across the Africa. Gateway manages over 30 equivalent transponders as well as multiple SAT-3 cable capacity, hosting major satellite hubs in four African countries. The company owns and manages state-of-the-art network control centres in Lagos, Accra, Maputo, Johannesburg and Brussels, providing services to over 1,200 corporations and more than 80 African mobile and fixed operators. 

MobileWorld
In your mission statement you aspire to be number 1 service provider in Africa, how are you working towards achieving this mission?

MobileWorld:
Can you tell us about your Nigeria operation, feedback from subscribers to AirlinkTM and MetrilinkTM, and what are the prospects and challenges in the country ?

Peter Gbedemah:
Being the biggest communications market in Africa, Nigeria is also the largest market for Gateway. The company delivers connectivity to 22 of the 25 major banks in the country. The banking sector is an instance where Satellite technology proves a better alternative to cable and fibre. For instance, we can connect wirelessly to a bank’s HQ in a major city and then immediately to branches, so we provide instant online access versus several week’s set-up time for fibre. For the future, with SAT 3 Nigeria has a huge potential capacity.

MobileWorld:
Can you tell us the state of your subsidiary company GTV, what are the responses from subscribers and do you have plan to roll out in another African country.

Peter Gbedemah:
Since its July 2007 launch, GTV has become the fastest growing pay TV network in Sub-Saharan Africa. It currently reaches in excess of 1.25 million viewers in 15 countries, with over 100,000 registered subscribers. By offering high quality entertainment with the best in US and African film, the most popular television series and top class live football (including the Barclays Premier League), GTV has proved very attractive to an enormous captive market that, until now, has been severely underserved. As a result, the company’s potential for considerable growth in subscriber and overall exposure terms is substantial. As well as proving very popular in resident countries, GTV is currently commencing a roll out into Francophone Africa, beginning with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon in August. By the end of 2008, GTV be available in 30 African countries. Moreover, the company has delivered its overarching aim of making top quality entertainment affordable to ordinary Africans, reducing costs to the subscriber by some 50% compared with previous pay TV charges.

MobileWorld:
What are the challenges you face in all your operating countries?

Peter Gbedemah:
We work across all connectivity channels – cable, satellite and wireless. However, cable simply isn’t an option for much of Africa, due to geography (landlocked countries) and lack of existing infrastructure. But cable drives a demand for high quality and cost effective connectivity for customers, which satellite can meet more flexibly, leading to further growth and opportunity for Gateway. Fibre opens people’s eyes to what ICT can deliver, to consumers and businesses. That in turn increases demand where there may not be access to cable. A back up will always be needed.

Delay in delivery and service remains a challenge for Satellite. Again, Satellite is not better than cable – but is often the only way. Gateway is all about designing applications and technology to ensure they can best serve the business and people throughout Africa. Rather than use applications that were designed for use in the rest of the world, Gateway has designed and

built its services specifically for the African market. For instance, IPJetDirect (Internet connectivity delivered by satellite) was designed and built for satellite delivery across Africa– so you don’t get delay or delivery problems – it’s made for purpose.

MobileWorld:
What set you apart from your rivals?

Peter Gbedemah:
Gateway Communications is an African company. We were one of the first companies to raise money in Europe for Africa, and we continue to invest on the continent. We have sales and service support on the ground, so any of our customers in our 40 countries of operation, can receive technical assistance from engineers who understand the particular conditions they are working in.

Because of our hybrid approach, with capabilities in fibre, wireless and satellite, if customers do want to move applications, we can re-deploy capacity quickly and easily. There’s a huge advantage of flexibility. Gateway is one of the few companies that can do that – take a new customer on with satellite, and agree in contract that they will migrate to fiber once available.

MobileWorld:
What should we expect from Gatewaycomm in five years time?

Peter Gbedemah:
With regards to Internet delivery, Gateway believes that mobile carriers will be the biggest ISPs in Africa, and mobile phones will be the biggest route to connectivity. Satellite can be the backbone and the edge of the network.