Against the background of the recent downtime and disruption of internet service occasioned by the cuts in submarine cable, West Africa pioneer 4G LTE broadband service provider, Smile Nigeria, has commended the Nigerian cable providers MainOne and Globacom for partnering with the company to overcome the challenge swiftly.
In a statement released in Lagos, Smile commended both MainOne and Globacom for “the relentless support both firms offered to the company to aid the quick delivery of additional capacity required during the recent WACS submarine fibre cut”.
Expressing his delight, the Group CEO of Smile Communications, Ahmad Farroukh noted “the huge demand for IP capacity from other operators in Nigeria during the unfortunate incident”. He appreciates the commitment shown by MainOne and Globacom to make quick alternative arrangements with multiple upstream providers to accommodate the Smile telecommunications network.
The CEO of Smile Group further stated that “we should take learnings from the recent WACS and SAT3 cable cuts that resulted in the disruption of internet services in the country”. In his applause to the Honorable Minister of Communications, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and in achieving the National Broadband Committee objectives, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh pleaded that the Honorable Minister and the regulatory agency should facilitate an environment where all Nigerian and Non-Nigerian cable providers will have active redundancy on each other so that consumers will not be impacted negatively in case of similar occurrence in the future.
For example, if submarine cable X was subject to a cut, other cables existing in Nigeria should be able to carry on the lost capacity without negatively impacting the end users.
Smile, renowned for the primacy of its customer’s service, regretted any inconvenience caused by the slight disruption in its service rendition in some areas and assured all its stakeholders that their best interest remains upmost in all its consideration.
An innovative company, Smile, launched the first 4G LTE network in West Africa in Nigeria in 2014 revolutionising the way people access the internet. The company was the first to launch VoLTE on its network and has continued with its innovation, having introduced SmileVoice, which is a free mobile app that enables customers with any Android or Apple iPhone device (including those which are not VoLTE-enabled) to make SuperClear voice calls over Smile’s 4G LTE network. It was also the first to introduce an unlimited offering, which enables SuperFast data and SuperClear voice, all on one bundle.