hope this is not another story telling. remember Main One is in the running to light up their fiber this month. the cable is laid testing is in progress. Info on their progress is commendable with the main contractor tyco, equipment installers hauwei, investors AFC all singing the same song about when they will deliver gives one some measure of confidence. Zain and Starcomms have confirmed they have signed up. Starcomms has assured that the savings they make will be passed to consumers. What better solid leads can one get. Glo is sssoooooooo secretive and shift goal post so often, I hope that on June 21 Jameel will not say,  ladies and gentlemen due to sabotage of our launch in Ghana glo 1 cable is being delayed. 

I read an article that says Etisalat also bought bandwidth on Main-One. Based on an e-mail I received, I think swift might also be with them. What really interests me is the Price. Initially, I was hearing $400 for an E-1(this was back in 2008). As of 2009, I was hearing under $2000 for an E-1(with differing levels depending on amount and duration). I just wonder what they are quoting customers today.

One last thing, I spoke to someone high up in Zain, and he says they are currently upgrading their network to LTE. He says it should be launched in the next 2 months.

jdoss:



One last thing, I spoke to someone high up in Zain, and he says they are currently upgrading their network to LTE. He says it should be launched in the next 2 months.

these guys can't run a 3G network( HSPA) efficiently, you 're talking about LTE.

@flyuche

I think it was/is a bandwidth issues. They could only afford to allot so much bandwidth at a certain price for a certain number of consumers. With Main One, that should no longer be a problem(lord willing). By going to LTE, they might be raising the ceiling but that also raises the floor. The crappiest service we get with LTE should be better than the crappiest service we get with HSPA.

jdoss:

I read an article that says Etisalat also bought bandwidth on Main-One. Based on an e-mail I received, I think swift might also be with them. What really interests me is the Price. Initially, I was hearing $400 for an E-1(this was back in 2008). As of 2009, I was hearing under $2000 for an E-1(with differing levels depending on amount and duration). I just wonder what they are quoting customers today.

One last thing, I spoke to someone high up in Zain, and he says they are currently upgrading their network to LTE. He says it should be launched in the next 2 months.

flyuche:

these guys can't run a 3G network( HSPA) efficiently, you 're talking about LTE.

abeg can someone break this down for the boys. . .no vex o

i checked wikipedia but there's too much irrelevant data there, what i grabbed was that LTE is 3.9G(they have come again o, first it was 2.5G)

dude, dude's and dude's.

L wetin? LTE is not even a run of the mill deployed platform in the world yet!!!! we are talking the fastest mobile internet possible, rated better than the other wireless option.

zain wan do LTE, wey na only two telcos don deploy in a few states in the US.
are we talking the same expensive to deploy LTE?

has this thread now turned into the place for circulating "unconfirmed rumors" all this na marketing shebi? tseew very funny zain/LTE

the same zain wey no get better 2G much less 3G, wan run LTE. the moon donget wings dey fly abi?

ok after consulting wikipedia and google, i find that the is LTE (4G), and there is 3G (advanced) also erronueously called 4G,

which one is zain supposedly deploying?

for avoidance of doubt, i will rather believe saddam hussein was a woman, than believe that Zain nigeria is capable of such feats, in any form whatsoever

It costs Millions of dollars to upgrade to to a 3g network and that is why the network operators are slowly rolling out the services and they're yet to make profits with regard to their 3g investment in the country, but i think that will soon change.

As for the deployment of LTE (ITU-R), it will cost America's AT&T about 10 billion dollars to upgrade their infrastructure to 4g and that will take 3-5 years. In Nigeria, we should expect the Nigerian telecomms to fully deploy their 3g services and improve the quality of their service.

@djcn
You can not compare a network like At&t with any network in Nigeria. When they roll something out, it is usually in about 20 or 30 of their largest markets. Here in Nigeria it would simply be Lagos and Abuja. The coverage would also be a whole lot less, Nigeria is about the size of Texas  I think. The total upgrade cost should not be nearly as much as At&t's projected 10 billion(plus any Nigerian company would not even cover the entire country). Everyone might think it stupid, but imagine from an advertising standpoint being the only company offering "4G" in Nigeria with the bandwidth that everybody is expecting.

The only reason I said anything is because the person I spoke to would be in a position to know this(he told me this before the Airtel deal was announced). I am not trying to sell anybody on anything, I am just writing what I have heard. There is no need to make it seem like it is simply not possible, stranger things have happened.


I could not find anything about Nigeria, but Zain is going into LTE

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=44320&t=1

SAUDI ARABIA. The Networks business of Motorola, Inc. today signed a contract with Zain Saudi Arabia to deploy the first Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in the Kingdom. 

Motorola will be deploying the largest LTE network for Zain in the capital city, Riyadh and will provide an end-to-end LTE solution including radio access network (RAN), evolved packet core (EPC), devices and optimisation and integration services. 

Deployment will begin in the second quarter enabling Zain to offer high-speed mobile broadband services to its customers.

@jodoss I an not against ur statement or post, u got a first hand info which can be true. Well, what you've said makes much sense, in Nigeria the best data services is always limited to Lagos, Abuja n PH, that can reduce d costs of deployment. Well, it's not their fault, that's where the money is.

As the GSMA states "More than 50 mobile operators have already committed to LTE plans, trials or deployments that will take this speed well beyond 100 megabits."

Zain can actually rollout the plans in some selected cities, but again rolling out doesn't automatically translate to faster speed. Now come to think about this, if 10,000 persons in Lag have access to a speed of 100mbps, then where is the backbone? If there's no solid backbone support for that amount of data then ur speed would not be better than mine who's on a 3.6mbps.

I know the telcomms industry would naturally want to progress with other network operators around the world, but it would be much better if they tackle basic problems we still face in Nigeria.

i know of one operator that has commercially deployed LTE. others are still at the experimental stage with the technology. if only we can get enough bandwidth with the current 3G technologies( EVDO Rev. A, HSPA ) we already have from the operators, life will be sweet.

ok ok time out,  Enough of LTE 4G stuff. Who has info on which telecoms coys are on board Main One Train?

July 1st, Main One launches

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=33307&email=html

Etisalat purchased bandwidth

http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=7853

Chief Executive Officer for Estisalat, Steven Evans, said that efforts would be made to secure supplies by patronising two cable operators at the same time, with both suppliers serving as back up to each other.
”We have already bought capacity from Main One and there are other cables coming into Nigeria with more capacity, so we are not going to build a cable of our own, we don‘t see that as necessary,” he said

Starcomms as well it seems

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201005251215693

The Chief Executive Officer, Starcomms Plc, Mr. Maher Qubain, is of the view that the cost per megabyte will be five times lower when Main One cable commences operations in Nigeria and seven times lower when WASC takes off before the end of the year.

He says, ”Broadband cost per megabyte is going to drop five times from what it is today when Main One commences operations. This is the impact Main One cable will have on the cost of internet connection. It will also allow Starcomms to reduce prices too because we have already signed a contract with Main One Cable Company.”

Thats all I have found.

jdoss:

July 1st, Main One launches

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=33307&email=html

Etisalat purchased bandwidth

http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=7853

Starcomms as well it seems

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201005251215693

Thats all I have found.

guy i salute you o!
ur the only person here that provides links!
the count down to july 1st has BEGUN!!

hmmn, the keyword is cheaper, even if na the same damn service, cheaper is music in my ears!!!

funny thing is i dont understand how the service should'nt or can't be better!! only in naija can they manage this kinda miracle.

speaking of which, MTN dey pose? no wan buy bandwidth? Thunder fire them till eternity o

4llerbuntu:

hmmn, the keyword is cheaper, even if na the same damn service, cheaper is music in my ears!!!

funny thing is i dont understand how the service should'nt or can't be better!! only in naija can they manage this kinda miracle.

speaking of which, MTN dey pose? no wan buy bandwidth? Thunder fire them till eternity o

sebi they are a major part of WACS now. . .

An article I found on LTE in Nigeria.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201005120025.html

Hang on a sec. . .
Last time I checked out Main one, there were laying submarine cables.
And if I am not missing anything now, it remains the same.
One can conclude therefore that Main one are only going to be an international gateway.

The cost of reaching servers hosted outside the country will reduce. The cost of trunk calls will also fall.
How about the cost of reaching servers hosted in Nigeria? Cost of calls within Nigeria?

As long as there is no PSTN terminating at your doorstep, bandwidth will still not reach the expected levels with the same wireless connection to ISP as what we rely on now.
We still need Glo as far as I am concerned. ISPs can only boast of being dual homed to international traffic with the current set-up.
How about First Bank being dual-homed over the wire within Nigeria. . . ?

Glo understand there isn't much competition is why it's taken them this long. Other companies need to seize the initiative and crank up the pressure on Glo.
It's expensive but it has to be done.

^^ english please!

are you saying that a fibre cable landing in nigeria will not improve internet services or make my internet possibly faster or cheaper?

what does calling up a site hosted in nigeria versus one hosted abroad have to do in all this? i ask because right now i dont see whats the difference in calling up bbc or nairaland, so ?
break this down in layman terms, cos what i undersyand from your post is that the cables wont make any difference.


i understand the wired broadband/last mile connectivity thingy, but if for me the average starved consumer paying through my nose for internet, the cable will mean that i can probably get up to 1mbps consistent speed at cheaper rates, then the cable has helped me, i dont really have to be able to watch HULU you know

bottomline is we are suffering in naija for this internet thing, if i will get better service for cheaper costs right now, i will take it and not complain about not watching world cup online!!!!

I don't think I have suggested anywhere in my post that speeds will not improve . . .

I don't think I have suggested anywhere in my post that speeds will not improve . . .

What happened in East Africa after they got their cable last year was that speeds improved immediately, but the price only started falling about 6 months after the cable came online. Expect the same to happen here.

Its good to here that progress is being made with all these submarine cables (main one in particular).

Evil Brain:

What happened in East Africa after they got their cable last year was that speeds improved immediately, but the price only started falling about 6 months after the cable came online. Expect the same to happen here.

We are looking from different angles. . .
If you want to browse a google page, you'll get there is a few seconds with the sub cable.
If you want to access your Nigerian bank account on-line if the server is hosted in the bank in Lagos . . . it'll be the same speed you experience now.
The quality of your skype audio and video calls to me will improve significantly. . . but a skype call to your pals in Lagos will stay the same. . .
That's what you get with an ISP that is only a gateway.

nateevs:


We are looking from different angles. . .
[b]If you want to browse a google page, you'll get there is a few seconds with the sub cable.
If you want to access your Nigerian bank account on-line if the server is hosted in the bank in Lagos . . . it'll be the same speed you experience now.
[/b]The quality of your skype audio and video calls to me will improve significantly. . . but a skype call to your pals in Lagos will stay the same. . .
That's what you get with an ISP that is only a gateway.

sey it's cos we dont have an internet exchange here?

snt that what glo is supposed to be with their license?

na wah o

netotse:

sey it's cos we dont have an internet exchange here?

Primarily because your internet access to ISP is not on cable . . .
Your ISP backbone is across the Atlantic. . . None within the country.
They can't offer mind blowing speeds. .

In Japan, it's a normal thing for people to have 30Mbps connection to ISP . .
What Glo will offer is Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) . . .
Many people will even be able to request Fibre to the Premise (FTTP). . . I am talking blinding speeds that make broadband access in the UK look like pre-world war data communications.

While I am not trying to paint the Main One access as inconsequential to the situation now. . . Glo is the only company for now that will bring the evolution. . .

nateevs:


Primarily because your internet access to ISP is not on cable . . .
Your ISP backbone is across the Atlantic. . . None within the country.
They can't offer mind blowing speeds. .

what do you mean?

nateevs:


Primarily because your internet access to ISP is not on cable . . .
Your ISP backbone is across the Atlantic. . . None within the country.
They can't offer mind blowing speeds. .

In Japan, it's a normal thing for people to have 30Mbps connection to ISP . .
What Glo will offer is Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) . . .
Many people will even be able to request Fibre to the Premise (FTTP). . . I am talking blinding speeds that make broadband access in the UK look like pre-world war data communications.

While I am not trying to paint the Main One access as inconsequential to the situation now. . . Glo is the only company for now that will bring the evolution. . .

well cannot say i understand you, but way i see it, i cant get on a cable(wired) connection because well my providers are not doing that.
apparently glo MAY do that, (dont hold your breath for that)

but bottomline is what? even OTA i can not get 5-10Mbps?
what about the springing up of localised isp like peacetalk? peacetalk is one run down coy in some parts of ikeja trying to run copper wire into some select areas and give cheaper phone calls etc. or even disc comms. if those ones get a link to say Glo via cable, will they not be able to use their copper lines to give reasonable speeds of course subject to how much bandwidth they purchase?


well as usual this is naija for you, first they were heralding the fibre cables, now we are talking about how it really wont make much difference, TSEEEWWWW!!!!
but for me at home, im not a company, not a bank or whatever, like how much bandwidth or how much speed minimum will make life better for me? do i need to have 30MBps at home?

as i say, techs and politicians are made of the same stuff

Will Glo 1 ever Launch?

As someone said earlier, they are so secretive

We are looking from different angles. . .
If you want to browse a google page, you'll get there is a few seconds with the sub cable.
If you want to access your Nigerian bank account on-line if the server is hosted in the bank in Lagos . . . it'll be the same speed you experience now.
The quality of your skype audio and video calls to me will improve significantly. . . but a skype call to your pals in Lagos will stay the same. . .
That's what you get with an ISP that is only a gateway.

You're right of course, but the problem is there are no websites of consequence hosted in Nigeria right now. Therefore virtually all our traffic has to go through the bottleneck at sat-3. Main One means a much wider neck= higher speeds. The kind of speed most Nigerians are dreaming of is well within the capabilities of EVDO or even gprs (even 50kbs is considered fast here) but I've never been able to max either of these out. So the problem for now is not the last mile though that will change when all the new cables come on line.

dont mean to be pessimistic, but why d some people believe that anyone will do last mile fibre?

to start chopping up the roads to lay cables again? to where? are people gonna subscribe b4 the cable is laid to their door?

i ask because gas isnt last mile for anyone yet, but a few years back they were chopping up roads to lay them!

i will repeat, do not hold your breath waiting for any last mile solution.

hat may happen may be WANS o some large wifi networks and hotspots linked to the cables