The Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited, last week in Lagos, South-West Nigeria engaged various stakeholders ahead of the launch of the second communications satellite to be known as NigComSat-2.

Giving her speech, the Managing Director/CEO of NIGCOMSAT, Dr. Abimbola Alale, stated the essence of the one-day stakeholders’ engagement forum with the theme ‘‘NIGCOMSAT: The Road Map for Enhanced Service Delivery,’ is to get inputs from industry players on the desired services needed from the NigComSat-2.

“The essence of today’s engagement is to rub minds on the area of service delivery especially as we plan to launch our second communication satellite. We believe that today’s meeting is an opportunity for stakeholders, industry players and NIGCOMSAT Management to strategically review and make inputs on the desirability of services needed by the customers on the second satellite,” she said.

While urging the stakeholders from the public and private sectors as well as industry players, within and outside the country to view the Stakeholders’ meeting as critical to the growth of the industry, Dr. Alale reminded the industry players that they are bound by common goals and interests.

The NigComSat-2 is expected to be launched next year as a replacement for NigComSat 1-R launched in 2011 with a life span of 15 years. This is cheery news as the launch will give Nigerians faster, wider coverage, and better deployment of the 5G network across Nigeria. It will also lead to collaboration between fibre operators and satellite technology operators.

Also, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON),  while moderating the first-panel session on Satellite and 5G, noted that several factors have made it imperative for operators to begin to think about using satellite to deliver communications services.

According to him, such factors include hard-to-reach areas, the indiscriminate shutdown of base stations by government authorities and difficulties in using fibre to cover the whole country. He tasked NIGCOMSAT’s management to champion sensitisation that will make policymakers understand the usefulness of satellite in easy communication and make it easy for operators to sign on.

Meanwhile, in a presentation titled ‘Nigcomsat – Enhanced Service Delivery’, Engr. Obiora Nnaemego, Group Head, Satellite Broadcasting & Broadband Company, a subsidiary of Nigcomsat Limited, stated that in Nigcomsat, the goals and objectives for the enhanced service delivery are to display resilience in the face of difficulties.

He noted that the role of Constant Communication with Internal and External Stakeholders has been elevated in NIGCOMSAT by the quality and timely answers to what’s going on in the company. “Enhancing service definition for clients to understand what to expect and what not to expect from our services and have information on the channels of contact for support,  SLAs for all customers is a must-have,” he said.

Highlighting some action plans for enhanced service delivery at Nigcomsat, Engr. Obiora stated that the company’s current service profiles, which include Broadband, Broadcasting, Network Operations Services, Satellite Control and Operations, Enterprise and Special Projects, Innovation and Development Products and Services are optimally positioned to ensure healthy competition and reward mechanisms for enhanced service delivery to clients.

“For enhanced service delivery, New Partnerships are being forged with alternate Satellite Operator to complement the efforts of diverse companies with complimenting Original Equipment Manufacturers to offer major stakeholders free CPEs on the Ka-Band to migrate an existing service and same time roll out new services with organisations with multi-operation in Nigeria to leverage the opportunity for multi-branch connectivity and influence other areas of our operations.

“A new Ku-band Antenna System has been installed and the Integration of the RF System is ongoing to stabilise the services on the Broadcasting arm of the Business to improve the Uplink Transmission and Stability of the DTH services to end users, thereby enhancing service delivery for all the stakeholders.

“For business continuity and continuous service delivery, the company has embarked on the Procurement of additional Communication Satellite  – NigComSat-2, which is an ongoing process and it is hoped that this project will enhance the service delivery for NIGCOMSAT and all stakeholders,” he highlighted.

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