Gateway Communications has been awarded three new licenses, including the Network Facilities Provider (NFP) Tier 2 Licence by the Communications Commission of Kenya. The new licenses further Gateway’s drive to build a pan-African connectivity network that covers every major African city, based on satellite, submarine cable and terrestrial (fibre) infrastructure.

In addition to the NFP, Gateway has secured its Application Services Provider (ASP) license and its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) license. The awards mean Gateway can build infrastructure in Kenya and deliver telecommunications services to end users, to undertake the “construction, installation, and operation of electronic communications systems in Kenya”. Gateway now has the first and only fully redundant MPLS backbone on SEACOM in Kenya, which interconnects South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Europe. This provides guaranteed quality of service to business and carrier customers, who can also prioritise voice or data traffic over the MPLS network.

Following gaining the licenses, Gateway will continue to invest in infrastructure in East Africa and is installing its own satellite teleports in Kenya. The company is also building two terrestrial teleports in Nairobi to offer national and international connections for sectors such as banking, mining and retail. In addition, Gateway already has reinforced 4th layer power back-up system. Gateway opened an office in Kenya at the start of 2009 to work with major customers in East Africa, with increasing demand for pan-African communications.