Nigeria’s NigComSat and Turkey’s Turksat have agreed to jointly carve out a share of the satellite communications market in Africa, where they will collaborate to ensure the deployment of satellite solutions.
A statement from NigComSat announced the agreement, which provides for a framework of cooperation between the two satellite operators in various areas, including shared satellite ground infrastructure in Africa and Europe, backup capacity arrangements, satellite communication training, broadcast content sharing, and satellite applications development with particular emphasis on e-government applications.
The two agencies signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Ankara, Turkey, the statement said. The Nigerian delegation was led by the Executive Director of Technical Services, Engr. Kazeem Kolawole Raji, while the Turkish Vice President, Hasan Huseyin Ertok, led the Turksat delegation.
As reported in SpaceWatch.Global on 23 March 2018, NigComSat and Türksat were involved in meetings at the Satellite 2018 Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C. According to NigComSat, these discussions explored technical and commercial agreements that would expand their satellite footprints in order to allow customers to leverage bandwidths on the satellite infrastructure of both companies, as well as the exchange of Nigerian and Turkish content on their broadcast platforms to give their respective audiences more viewing options.
This new collaboration is expected to allow both operators to use their resources and specific expertise to provide new and innovative satellite-based solutions. It is also expected to meet government interest in broadband penetration in every part of Nigeria, including other parts of the world where its footprints are visible.
Türksat is a satellite communications and satellite television operations company providing diverse satellite communication through the Türksat series of satellites.
Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComSat) Limited is a company under the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Communications Technology with a mission to be the leading communications satellite operator and service provider in Africa. NigComSat was incorporated on 4 April 2006 under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Communications Technology for the provision of fixed satellite services.
NigComSat operates NIGCOMSAT-1R, built and launched by China in 2011. Prior to that, the company operated NIGCOMSAT-1, built and launched by China in 2007, but which failed in orbit in 2008.
