Somalia to get LTE, but targeted at military bases

by Richard Cutcher
Somalia is seemingly next on the African LTE watchlist, after it was revealed to HumanIPO a new entrant into the market has been granted a licence to roll out the super fast service.

The Nordic Group, based in Denmark and Dubai, has been awarded its first licence in the young republic, with the company also in the process of applying for a licence in Afghanistan.

Speaking to HumanIPO at the LTE Africa conference in Cape Town, chief sales officer Travis Gee said they hope to have the service running by first quarter of 2014, but are yet to choose an infrastructure and support partner.

Gee said: “Because of the low penetration of devices, we will be targeting the military bases with coverage first.”

Regarding how they are going to power their LTE network, Gee said they were examining a number of vendors which already have networks in the region including Huawei, Smile Communications and Alcatel-Lucent.

He said using a microwave backhaul was also an option because of the costs involved in running a whole new cable network.
The Nordic Group is also on the hunt for investment of between US$15 million to US$20 million.