Gateway continues its investment in African connectivity by committing to 155Mbps from SEACOM.

10 December 2007 - Gateway Communications announced today that it has purchased a 155 Mbps (STM1) circuit from SEACOM, owner of the first fibre optic cable which will be constructed to connect South Africa to Europe along the east coast of Africa. Peter Gbedemah, Chief Executive of Gateway, said the purchase endorses Gateway Communications' commitment to the future of telecommunications across Africa.

The new fibre will provide 1.2 Terabits capacity for internet, telephone, pictures and other data from South Africa to Marseille via Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya, and is scheduled to enter service in July 2009. It will dramatically improve the quality of communications on the east coast of Africa, currently served by satellite. It will also offer users an alternative to SAT3 for traffic from South Africa to Europe.

Gateway is the largest private data and voice carrier in Africa, and the decision to contract as an anchor tenant on SEACOM reflects the company's continued investment program on the continent, which has totaled over $200M during the past two years. Gateway also has an option to purchase further additional capacity on SEACOM.

Gbedemah said Gateway decided to back SEACOM "because Gateway believes in open access and privately owned telecommunications facilities, which will help to deliver lower prices and increased capacity, with more choices for the companies, operators and people of Africa."

"This contract with SEACOM is part of our innovative response to market demand and aimed at helping us retain our position as the No. 1 supplier of data and voice services in Africa," said Gbedemah.

Gateway has customers in all the countries touched by SEACOM, and offices in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya. Gateway will provide high speed MPLS data services between all points on the network, as well as dedicated bandwidth between any landing points on the fibre.

Gateway already provides connectivity for many large organizations in East Africa, including some of the largest and fastest growing mobile operators across the region. These GSM operators will benefit every bit as much as the multinational corporations, such as mining companies, banks and others. All of them will see an increase in service quality from reduced latency and the huge additional bandwidth provided by SEACOM.

Mobile telephone companies are expanding rapidly throughout Africa and the new technologies they are introducing such as GPRS and 3G, which focus mainly on the provision of data, video and other entertainment and services, require huge amounts of new bandwidth to supplement the already waning satellite supply, diminished because of exponential growth in bandwidth demand.

The fibre will enable the easy interconnection of mobile telephone companies and corporations in East Africa. Many of these telephone operators are also constructing in-country fibre networks and cross borders links to landlocked countries such as Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.

The SEACOM fibre will also assist the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the UN's Millenium Development Goals. These programs aim to reduce poverty by a number of methods including provision of IT skills and access to the internet, both of which will benefit from the SEACOM cable.

Brian Herlihy, Vice President of Herakles Telecom LLC, the managing partner for SEACOM, said the construction contract for the cable was awarded to Tyco Telecommunications on Nov.13, and that production of the cable and amplifiers is underway. He said laying of the cable will start in 10 months, when the cable has been completed, and that it will be ready for service in June 2009.

The US$650-million cable will cover 13,000km and includes a spur to Mumbai, India. The investors in SEACOM are Industrial Promotion Services (25%) based in Kenya, an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Herakles Telecom LLC (25%), and South African investors VenFin Limited (25%), Convergence Partners (12.5%), and the Shanduka Group (12.5%). Nedbank Capital, the investment banking arm of South African Bank Nedbank Limited, was appointed as the Mandated Lead Arranger for all debt funding requirements of the project and the funding will be provided by Nedbank Capital and Investec Bank.

A press released issued by Venfin quoted Cyril Ramaphosa, Chairman of Shanduka, as saying "this is a tremendous opportunity for our continent, because the cable gives us the technical capacity for much closer integration into the world economy where Africa will significantly share in the new opportunities and efficiency gains arising from this project. We are extremely happy that the investors from South and East Africa have partnered with an international counterpart around our shared vision of linking Africa to the world in the spirit of NEPAD."

VenFin also quoted Andile Ngcaba, chairman of Convergence Partners, as saying ''improved access for business and individuals in Africa to communications, broadband services and new technology offerings can improve lives and help grow the economies of our countries. The linking of southern and east Africa with India and Europe is crucial for enhancing development and trade between these key regions." said. "Our agreement to proceed with the building of the cable is a great day for Africa."

Michael Blair, a member of Gateway's Executive Committee, has been tasked with procuring fibre bandwidth on the east and west coasts of Africa, and negotiated the contract with SEACOM. He said the new fibre's 1.2 Terabits of capacity represents a total bandwidth of 1,190,000 Megabits of data, more capacity than is now provided by all the satellite serving Africa, and at a much lower price per Megabit. He said Gateway is discussing the introduction of a new fibre to the west coast with a number of companies, and expects a 1.2 Terabit fibre serving Ghana and Nigeria to be in place by mid 2009.

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Africa Practice - Regional Press Offices

Gateway Communications

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About Gateway Communications

Gateway Communications is the leading provider of pan African connectivity services to telecommunications operators and corporations across Africa. Gateway delivers high quality, comprehensive and affordable national, regional and international communications services.

With operations dating back to 2001, Gateway Communications is one of the most established operators in Africa and has been responsible for pioneering the delivery of cost effective voice, data and managed network solutions and services throughout the continent.

With operations in over thirty seven and offices in thirteen African countries (in addition to offices in four European countries) Gateway Communications has developed the local presence, skills and expertise combined with a global infrastructure and relationships to uniquely meet the voice and data communications needs of all telecommunications operators and businesses operating within Africa.