NIGCOMSAT, monitoring satellites and Nigeria's space products, By Fom Gyem

“The Nigerian Satellite (NigComSat–1R) is one of the critical national (solid) infrastructures under the purview of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy that can be leveraged to deepen broadband penetration as well as to deliver Direct to Home (DTH) services in the country.”
The satellites can be used for demography, including the planning and mapping of population surveys, the mapping of census enumeration areas, the planning and monitoring of rural and urban growth, and the provision of early warnings for natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and storms.
Over places that terrestrial network carriers are unable to cover, NigComSat-1R offers omnipresent high-speed coverage. NigComSat-1R will always provide consistent, dependable, and fast internet services at an affordable price, even in the most distant areas of Nigeria or West Africa.
High-speed data and video Internet connections, cost-effectiveness, and security are all features of their services. The solutions are customised for the best possible delivery in applications for communications, disaster recovery, and security.
NigComSat-1R provides transponder leasing services on Ku-band, C-band, and Ka-band platforms. In addition to greater look angles and lower latency for intra-African communications traffic, 28 transponders and seven antennas ensure stronger footprints and centre beams spanning Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Broadcasters rely on NigComsat-1R to transmit a variety of media content to their customers’ homes, including normal TV, HDTV, and Ultra HD channels, thanks to more than 50 DTH platforms. The platform offers video-on-demand programming, in addition to free-to-air, free-to-view, and pay-tv channels.
NigComSat-1R offers locally produced, ground-breaking, value-added services that take advantage of its experience to address industry-specific needs and raise the quality of our satellite communications services. It also contributes to the provision of services that improve efficiency and procedures at work.

NigComSat-1R, Nigeria’s only communications satellite will outlive its usefulness by 2026, meaning that the satellite will expire by then.
I join other optimistic citizens to advocate that NIGCOMSAT should face its primary purpose of commercialising Nigeria’s space products and soon, I believe, we would tell our own success story in space.
The relentless efforts of Mallam Ibrahim Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, in building a digital Nigeria, as well as supporting NIGCOMSAT in the growth of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has leveraged the Nigerian Satellite (NigComSat-1R) to deepen broadband penetration in the country.

He said this in Abuja during the formal announcement of the National Policy on VSAT installation essential skills for Nigerians and the flag-off of the policy implementation through the training of 600 youths nationwide.
According to Pantami, the NigComSat-1R is a crucial piece of national infrastructure that the government wishes to use to improve broadband connection and benefit rural and underserved regions.
“The Nigerian Satellite (NigComSat–1R) is one of the critical national (solid) infrastructures under the purview of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy that can be leveraged to deepen broadband penetration as well as to deliver Direct to Home (DTH) services in the country.”
The minister noted that broadband connectivity plays a critical role in the development of Nigeria’s digital economy, and said: “We are developing skill acquisition policies for the various infrastructure required to drive the digital economy.”
He further asserted that filling the capacity gap in satellite-based service delivery is now seen as an urgent necessity to improve the quality of life, particularly in rural communities and remote areas, where the majority of the population resides.
I join other optimistic citizens to advocate that NIGCOMSAT should face its primary purpose of commercialising Nigeria’s space products and soon, I believe, we would tell our own success story in space.
Fom Gyem writes from Abuja.

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