Data services relief is underway for International Oil Companies (IOCs) running onshore and offshore oil production platforms and coastal communities to up their use of internet as leading indigenous telecommunication giant, Globacom, on Tuesday in Lagos, sealed a partnership deal with Huawei for the construction of optic fibre submarine cable, Glo 2, running from Lagos down to Nigeria/Cameroon maritime borders.

The deal seen by industry experts as a strategic giant leap to boost ICT in Nigeria, will see the submarine optic cable run across oil platforms and communities in Nigeria.

Expected to be delivered in eight months, the multi-billion naira contract-signing ceremony between the national operator, Globacom, and global telecom solutions vendors, Huawei, was done at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos before a cream of Nigerian press and industry enthusiasts.

Earlier in his presentation, the Globacom’s Regional Director, Technical, Mr. Sanjib Roy, said  the  submarine cable would wind round the Nigerian coast from Alpha Beach in Lagos, where Glo 1 landing station is located, to the Southern part of Nigeria as well as availing   ultra high capacity connection to the South-South Region where capacity will be provided to  offshore oil platforms and the communities.

According to him, “Glo 2 project is expected to boost telecommunication service delivery in the country and add to the economic and social empowerment of the communities in the oil producing regions. It will equally provide high speed internet connectivity as well as digitalize oil platforms with a view to improving productivity by uploading data to remote oil platforms at the speed of light”.

“Glo2 will be the first submarine cable in Nigeria to land outside Lagos as the five existing submarine cables only landed in Lagos. Glo 2 will have capacity of 12 Terabit per second and will provide ultra-high speed connection to oil platforms and communities to empower data coverage and support Enterprise market growth in this part of Nigeria”.

Continuing, Roy averred that Glo is the first to provide dedicated submarine optical fiber to oil platforms to support the growth of the Nigerian economy while assisting Oil Communities to cut down on their operational expenditure. “It is also designed for further expansion southwards to Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Angola, among others,” he said.

While adding that Glo 2 would enable high capacity connections between oil companies’ offices onshore and their offshore locations, Roy noted that “The New submarine cable will be approximately 850 kilometres long and will be named Glo 2.  The cable will be integrated to Globacom’s existing terrestrial Backbone Network to provide additional service redundancy, especially Abuja and other parts of the country”.

He explained further that while  the cable would contain three fiber pairs, with the first pair connecting Lagos directly to the  Southern part of Nigeria with terrestrial extension to other parts of the country for redundancy and maintenance purposes, the second will be equipped with eight switchable Branching Units (BUs) which will deliver high capacity to offshore oil stations and communities connected directly to BUs, with  the third pair equipped with two (2) switchable Branching Units to deliver high capacity to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.

The telecoms giant disclosed that tThe new project complements the Glo 1 international submarine cable built by Globacom in 2010 which is the only one of its kind in Nigeria managed end to end, from Lagos to London, by a single business concern and currently supplies sufficient bandwidth to the West African sub-region.

In his remarks, the Managing Director of Huawei, Mr. Li Belfang disclosed that Huawei is proud to partner with Globacom to build a revolutionary submarine cable using innovative and leading technology. “We believe the cable would bring a new era of digitalization to Nigerian economy”, he said.

Business Hilights recalls that on delivery of the feat, Glo will be the first owner of a landed submarine cable to extend the optic cable beyond the shores of Lagos State where about five international submarine cables have landed in the last couple of years waiting for hinterland access and necessary extensions for real dividends of the achievement.