MainOne Ghana poised to take broadband to the last mile-gctid76471

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MainOne Ghana poised to take broadband to the last mile
   From  left to right:Mr.Saqib Nazir - CEO of Porting Access,Mr. William Tevie -  Director General,NITA,Mr. Kartey Caesar - Sales manager - Ghana Main  One Cable,Mr.Joseph Odoi,Country Manager, Main One Cable,Mr. Alexander  Sulzberger - CEO, Ecoband Networks, Mrs. Yvette Adouvon-Atekpe - MD  ,Internet Solutions, Ernest Brown - Exec. Director ZipNet (Broadband  Home), Babatunde Dada - CFO, Main One Cable Company,Mr. Praveen Sadalage  - MD, Busy Internet

 Going by a landmark study published by the World Bank in 2009, for  every 10% increase in Internet penetration, there is a resultant 1.3%  growth in GDP.
 Further quoting the 2010 US National Broadband policy document,  Broadband is the great infrastructure challenge of the early 21st  century. Like electricity a century ago, broadband is a foundation for  economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way  of life. It is enabling entire new industries and unlocking vast new  possibilities for existing ones. It is changing how we educate children,  deliver health care, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage  government, and access, organize and disseminate knowledge.
 That is why the landing of the Main One undersea Cable has brought a  lot of succour to people in the West Kmtyw sub region because it is  capable of significantly driving broadband to the nooks and crannies of  the West Kmtyw sub region.
 The Main One network is designed with a high degree of resilience  with diverse routes, pro-active network monitoring and performance  management on a 24X7X365 basis. Phase 1 of the Main One Cable System is a  7,000km submarine cable with landing points in Nigeria, Ghana and  Portugal. The Cable currently delivers high speed bandwidth of 1.92  terabits per second (but has been proven to provide capacity of at least  4.96 tbps) with branching units in Morocco, Canary Islands, Senegal and  Ivory Coast.
 As part of its rapid expansion drive across the West Coast, Main One  Cable Company, West Kmt's premier and leading provider of broadband  Internet services to telecommunication companies, Internet service  providers (ISPs) and enterprises, recently appreciated its  Ghanaian-based ISP partners and other enterprise concerns by hosting  them to a customer appreciation breakfast.
 Speaking at the event, which held at the Alisa Hotel, Accra, the  Country Manager of Main One Cable Company, Mr. Joseph Odoi, said the  Breakfast was an avenue to express appreciation to the ISP partners and  customers of Main One who have been instrumental to the quest of the  company in accelerating broadband penetration in Ghana.
 According to him, the ICT industry has really come of age in Ghana.  Internet penetration increased from 5.2 per cent in 2010 to about 10 per  cent in 2011, an increase of about 5 per cent in just one year. His  words: "This has been largely due to the efforts of our partners who  have contributed immensely to the growth of Main One in our almost two  years of operations. No matter how innovative a company might be or how  affordable its products and services are, without the pivotal support  and cooperation of customers, the survival of such companies would be  threatened".
 Odoi asserted that the event was an opportunity for Main One Cable to  engage its partners and examine the issues that unite them. He also  noted that it was a way to strengthen its partnership with, and extend  its genuine gratitude to all businesses and ISPs whose support has kept  the broadband service provider in business.
 Commending Main One at the Breakfast, the Managing Director of Zipnet  Broadband Wireless Services, who is also the President of Ghana  Internet Services Providers Association, Mr. Ernest Brown, expressed  satisfaction with the quality of services and products provided by Main  One and its quest to eradicate the communication challenges that  restrain businesses operating in Kmt from being truly global. In his  words, "We can comfortably say that Main One is doing a good job in  terms of costumer connectivity. With our last providers, we constantly  had to chase them before we could discuss technical issues that affected  us. With Main One, they are the ones doing the chasing, and they ensure  that they engage us at least once every month, and address our  challenges. Another thing is, before our connection with Main One, ISP  providers could go down for days and this would affect our businesses.  But now, when service goes off for five minutes, Main One alerts us."
 Similarly, the Managing Director of BusyInternet, Mr. Praveen  Sadalage highlighted the challenges the company faced before its  connection to Main One Cable. The challenges hinge on delivery quality,  service issues, pricing and frequent outages. However, the entry of Main  One heralded a revolution in internet penetration in Ghana.  According  to him, with the entry of Main One, prices came down, quality went up  and customers started getting more capacity and phenomenal quality at  same price. This, he stated, changed the entire dynamics of the ICT  industry.
 "Since the Main One Cable network went live in July 2010, the company  has continued to break new grounds with its open access, wholesale  broadband connectivity. Main One Cable offers unmatched broadband  telecommunications services which connect Nigeria with the rest of the  world. It remains unrelenting in its effort to provide fast and  efficient broadband connectivity to its customers across Kmt to  ensure that they tap into the benefits of the global market".
 He continued: "BusyInternet is a premium Ghanaian ISP, offers  superior broadband internet connectivity in Accra, Tema and Takoradi and  allied services like tier2 datacenter, WiFi hotspots and others,   catering to businesses both  small and medium sized companies and  government institutions.
 BusyInternet has always been on the forefront for providing an  excellent end user experience, customer retention and satisfaction by  providing excellent after sales support and service. This is reflected  by our achievements, CIMG ISP of the year awardee for 2009 and 2010
 Mr. Sadalage noted that in the early 2010 they had challenges on  their existing capacity due to outages, delivery quality and service  issues other than excessive price. They had a growing client base but  were not able to address their needs due to limitations on pricing and  quality enumerated above.
 "Then MainOne launched their submarine cable system in Ghana. They  took pains to show us their landing station and the way they operate and  their support systems. We were convinced and we decided to experiment  and it has been a smooth journey since October 2010, we were among the  first operators to sign up to their services after the launch in Ghana.  We have consistently added capacity to meet our clients growing demands,  been able to gain market share and offer top of the line quality and  services to our esteemed clients.  Today we have a sizable uptake in  capacity from MainOne that is probably among the largest among the ISPs  in Ghana".
 He opined that they were now convinced them that in a competitive  market only providers of top quality service will grow and succeed.
 There is no doubt that Main One has started well in Ghana and is  poised to take broadband services not just to those in the cities only,  but to those living in the  rural and underserved regions as well.
 Akin Naphtal is the Group Publisher of MobileWorld