World Report

Bruce Ayonote
Managing Director and CEO of Suburban Telecom

‘We make sure to cater to the needs of the market’

IGERIA is one of the largest and fastest expanding telecommunications markets in the world. Five years ago Nigeria’s level of teledensity was among the lowest anywhere, with only one telephone line to 250 people. Since then four GSM mobile operators have been licensed and Nigeria now has around 10 million GSM lines with more being issued every day.

Suburban Telecom, which supplies transmission capacity and services to mobile operators, fixed-wireless carriers, public telecommunications operators and large corporate users, numbers three of Nigeria’s four GSM mobile operators among its clients.

The company operates a nationwide satellite-based network and is set to roll out a fibre-optic network across the country to increase its transmission capacity and provide flexibility and support for new services.

According to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Ayonote, the new network will help to take Nigerian telecommunications services into a new era. “We are supporting companies like Mtel, MTN and V-mobile, providing their cellular back-up services and linking their base stations and switch sites. We have developed about 40 satellite earth stations around the country.

“We see the need for a move from transitional technology to a much more sustainable technology in terms of capacity costs. Building a national fibre-optic network is paramount to our business development and sustainability. We aim to achieve complete coverage of Nigeria in 18 months.”

Since it was incorporated in 1999 the company has experienced phenomenal growth. “We constantly look at how technology, strategies and markets have developed by trying to adapt quickly and link them,” says Mr Ayonote.
“We make sure to cater to the needs of the market. Following the trends globally has helped us to have an advantage over other companies in our industry. In terms of human resources, we have highly specialised engineers with skills for network building support consultancy.

www.suburbantelecom.com

“We have international businesses that concentrate on operations outside Nigeria. We just completed the acquisition of a UK company and that will help us go deeper into Europe to make our reach more global.”

International companies participating in the project include technology suppliers Hua Wei of China and ATC, a South African cable manufacturing company, who are providing technical and operational expertise. “On the advice side we have the consulting arm of British Telecom. We also have CISCO Systems helping us on the metropolitan network,” says Mr Ayonote.

Suburban is also involved in the development of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, into a Wi-Fi centre for the country in a public-private partnership with the federal government. “The backbone is built around the whole of Abuja right now. Once it is completed, there are plans to move on to other cities throughout the country.”