Gateway Business Partners Helios Towers for Network Rollout

Infrastructure sharing and managed services provider, Helios Towers Nigeria (HTN) has signed a 120-site co-location deal with Gateway Business Nigeria, a pan African telecommunications service provider, for a nationwide network roll out in Nigeria. The deal follows Gateway Business’ successful roll out of its award winning AirlinkTM and MetroLinkTM wireless broadband services, using the same 10.5GHz solution in Lagos.
Helios Towers Nigeria (HTN) has over 1,000 sites nationwide and will provide end-to-end co-location services to Gateway Business Nigeria, the leading provider of communications services to multinational corporations working in Africa.  Gateway Business delivers the highest quality, most comprehensive and affordable national, regional and international connectivity services on the continent.
“Gateway is passionate about doing business in Nigeria and will be deploying world class communications services to all the states of the federation,” said Guy Clarke, Managing Director of Gateway Business Nigeria. “We have been working on the continent for more than 15 years, building a pan African communications network. Working with HTN in Nigeria is part of our strategy to provide world class broadband internet services for Africa’s leading businesses.”
Gateway Business is building a pan-African MPLS network that will cover every major African city and has acquired 10.5GHz spectrum licenses for point to multipoint connectivity in Nigeria. The company will roll out wireless broadband services across 10 Nigerian states in 2010, with Port Harcourt and Abuja scheduled to go live in the next few weeks. A further 26 states will go live through 2011.
The partnership will enable Gateway Business to roll out services quickly through the co-location on HTN sites, with guaranteed uptime and quality of service and reduced operating expenses.  Gateway Business currently provides a comprehensive suite of communications services to over 1,200 corporations working in Africa.
Gateway Business owns and operates Africa’s most advanced regional and international networks, supporting the requirements of the continent’s voice and data users and manages  diverse satellite, subsea and fibre connectivity across over 40 African countries. The network provides global connectivity for the continent through major teleport and switching facilities in Europe, the Americas and Africa.
HTN commenced commercial operations in 2005 and has demonstrated its ability to operate successfully in Nigeria. It has quickly become the leading shared infrastructure provider and the reference point for quality of service in the industry.  It is well positioned to remain the dominant provider of co-location infrastructure services in Nigeria, while adapting its business models to the specific requirements of the Nigerian environment
HTN recently increased its portfolio to over 1,000 sites and is growing its managed services business, planning to expand its network to 2,000 fully managed sites by end of 2010. HTN recently launched the highly successful “Lean Operator Model” that helps telecom operators reduce costs and to focus on the merchant side rather than the technological side of the business in a competitive environment.
Gateway Business Africa owns and operates the largest and most advanced pan-African telecommunications network. Our scale, reach and resources are unparalleled. Gateway connect over 1,200 of Africa largest and leading corporations in 40 African countries, working in partnership with the world’s foremost technology innovators.
Our business experts are creating prosperity across Africa by working closely with multinational corporations; in banking and finance, oil and gas, mining and construction, retail and distribution, airlines and other important sectors.
With more than 45 transponders of satellite capacity over Africa we manage more connectivity over the continent than any other operator. And with 24 dedicated teleports, access to multiple subsea cable landing ports, 17 African offices and 350 local experts, we’ve got more on the ground support than any other operator.
Gateway is committed to developing long term communications solutions and investing for the long term in the communities where we operate.