St. John, Jersey, Channel Islands, 8 October 2010, O3b Networks announced today that the company has signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal with Netcom Africa, a leading provider of satellite and wireless broadband solutions to provide low latency, high capacity broadband connectivity to ships and offshore platforms in Nigeria utilizing O3b’s Medium Earth Orbit technology. Nigeria is one of the world’s largest oil producing nations with most multinational oil and gas corporations operating in the region. Despite the availability of multiple submarine cable networks on the coast of the country, service providers have struggled to meet the unique needs of the oil and gas sector.
“This is an important deal for us because for the first time we are providing capacity to Netcom that will serve the oil and gas market. The bandwidth will be delivered over the city of Lagos, the Niger Delta region as well as the offshore oil rigs that comprises approximately 50 platforms. We are excited to see the benefits O3b can bring to this market compared with what they are using today,” said John Finney, EVP Sales and Marketing, O3b Networks.
“The high-capacity, low latency connectivity that O3b’s unique constellation of MEO (Medium Earth Orbit) satellites will provide, will allow us to offer a quality of service to our oil and gas customers operating in the Niger Delta region that was never possible before. Our services will be available in every part of the region, including onshore, and deep offshore using cutting edge motion stabilized antenna systems. Offshore workers will be able to talk with friends and family at home with no delay and large volumes of data will be transferred onshore for analysis quickly and seamlessly,” said Yen Choi, Group EVP and CTO, Netcom Africa.
About O3b Networks Ltd.
O3b Networks is building a new fiber-quality, satellite-based, global Internet backbone for telecommunications operators (telcos) and Internet service providers (ISP’s) in emerging markets. The O3b Networks system will combine global reach and the speed of a fiber-optic network. With investments and operational support from SES WORLD SKIES, Google Inc. Liberty Global, Inc. HSBC Principal Investments, Northbridge Venture Partners and Allen & Company, the O3b system will provide telcos and ISP’s with a low-cost, high-speed alternative to connect their 3G, WiMAX and fixed-line networks to the rest of the world. This will allow billions of consumers and businesses in more than 150 countries to benefit from high-speed Internet connectivity for educational, medical and commercial applications. O3b Networks’ headquarters is in St. John, Jersey, Channel Islands. Ground systems and technical development are managed through its wholly owned subsidiary in Englewood, Colorado.
About Netcom
Founded in 2004 to cater for Africa’s emerging markets, Netcom Africa is a leading communication infrastructure provider of IP networking services. Headquartered in Lagos with additional points of presence in the UK, USA, Hong Kong and China, Netcom offers a best in class product suite using cutting edge technologies in satellite, fiber and microwave communications to provide solutions to telecommunication carriers, GSM/CDMA operators, ISPs, multinationals, banks, oil & gas and government institutions. With multiple VSAT hubs globally and direct submarine capacity through geographically diverse routes, Netcom’s redundant network is peered with multiple tier one network providers in the USA and UK. Netcom’s partnerships with International operators through Interconnection agreements allows cross border MPLS and IPLC circuits to any part of the world. Netcom is an ISO9001:2008 registered company and the first company in Africa to achieve a TL9000 certification demonstrating its strong commitment to deliver mission critical services.
