Avanti Communications announces a partnership with Millicom

The partnership will deploy wireless services to rural communities providing connectivity to Sub-Saharan Africa using Avanti’s innovative technology.  

29 March 2017 – Avanti Communications Group plc, a leading provider of satellite data communications services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), announced today a partnership with leading international telecommunications company Millicom, to bring broadband connectivity to consumer, enterprise and government applications. This will include the deployment of the Avanti ECO initiative across Sub-Saharan Africa, which will provide ECO Wi-Fi services to schools and communities, addressing the digital divide in the region. By combining Avanti’s world leading satellite technology, with the market reach expertise from Millicom, the partnership will additionally commission a new Gateway Earth Station (GES) in Senegal.

Avanti will build a new GES and utilise Sen-Connect’s soon to be launched Diamniadio Data Centre. Sen-Connect is a fully owned Millicom subsidiary in charge of managing this new data centre which is part of the master development plan of Diamniadio being pioneered by the Senegalese government. It is the first Tier III designed data centre to be certified by the Uptime Institute within UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union). The development of this data centre will provide a growth platform of the highest quality infrastructure to support Senegal’s ambition of providing world class enterprise services within the region.

The new GES will guarantee data security within Senegal and will provide secure, high-quality data connectivity for a burgeoning government, enterprise and retail customer base. The co-innovation of the major infrastructure will ensure that traffic generated through the upcoming launch of Avanti’s HYLAS 4 Ka-band satellite, is managed in a secure and efficient way. The launch of HYLAS 4 will see Avanti complete its internet connectivity coverage across the entire continent, and together with Tigo Senegal, Millicom’s operation in the country, and Sen-Connect, the Company will continue to address vital rural broadband connectivity applications in domains such as education and healthcare across Senegal.

Millicom and Wari Group signed on February 2nd 2017 an agreement for the transfer of Tigo Senegal – to Wari, who has endorsed this development with Avanti.

Continuing to improve broadband connectivity in the region, Millicom will support the deployment of ECO wireless base station sites across Sub-Saharan Africa with Avanti, providing rural schools and communities which have poor and no internet connectivity, with a quality and reliable broadband connection. The ECO Wi-Fi initiative, launched by Avanti in October 2016, consists of solar-powered ECO Wi-Fi hotspots which will be hosted at schools, which in turn will benefit from subsidised Internet access. Consumers and local businesses, within range of the ECO Wi-Fi hotspot, will use the ECO mobile payment app (newly developed by Avanti) to make micropayments for broadband credits which convert to data usage.

We are pleased to be partnering with Avanti to expand our activities in Africa. Our support to the GES will ensure provision of highly secure, quality data connectivity to government, enterprise and retail customers in Senegal. Working with Avanti to ensure its Ka-band services address the enormous potential in Africa, together with the ECO initiative is a great opportunity.”

Mohamed Dabbour, Executive Vice President Millicom Africa

Avanti is pleased to partner with Millicom, who are well placed to support our infrastructure and deliver market access across Sub Saharan Africa for our products. In particular, working together on the ECO project to deliver satellite backhauled rural access is a significant opportunity.”   

David Williams, Chief Executive Officer at Avanti Communications