Gateway’s fibre-optic terrestrial route will give the country direct access to its capacity from Africa. Malawi’s traffic was previously all re-routed through Europe.
Gateway has said that all available capacity has been sold already, demonstrating the high latent demand within the country. Malawi’s internet penetration is only 4.6%, with mobile reaching 16% of its population, indicative of its growth potential, said Gateway.
The carrier is planning to introduce similar services in Botswana and Namibia later this year.
Mike van den Bergh, CEO of Gateway Communications, explained that the company’s African expansion "will be achieved through the ongoing investment we are making in infrastructure, the roll-out of terrestrial networks, our fibre capacity on all subsea cables and our on the ground local expertise".
