Nigeria relaunches communication satellite

Nigeria has launched another communication satellite code-named NigcomSat-1R bringing to three the number of satellites launched by Africa’s most populous countries in the last six months.

The satellite launched from China is a replacement for NIGCOMSAT1 which was de-orbited in 2008 for technical reasons after 18 months in orbit.

Omobola Johnson, Nigeria’s minister of communication technology said the new satellite would complement the efforts of the ministry in rolling out assisting infrastructure both in rural, semi-urban and urban areas.

“As you know, we are rolling out infrastructure that includes fibre optic, satellite and also microwave technology enabling us to deliver fast internet to all Nigerian citizens and also to deliver government services and commercial activities over the internet and hopefully increasing our march or direction towards building a knowledge economy that is less dependent on resources in the ground and more on our human capital knowledge,” she said.

Johnson, who said the satellite is at no cost to the government since it is a replacement for the de-orbited one, added that the organisation (NIGCOMSAT) has the responsibility of commercialising the satellite to serve both private and government needs.

However, the Minister revealed that the satellite would have no immediate implication on the reduction of the cost of internet in the country as that depends on the increase of satellite resources available to the country.

“As we increase the fibre optic, microwaves and the satellite resources, we can bring down the cost of internet in the country, but it will not happen as a result of the satellite launch on December 19,” Johnson said.

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Posted by AfricaSTI on December 21, 2011. Filed under Lead Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry