Africell Gambia Limited in partnership with Thuraya, a satellite phone company headquartered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last Thursday launched Thuruya’s products in the country at a ceremony held at the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa in Bijilo.

Attended by Dr. Njogu Bah, Secretary General and Head of Civil Service; Momodou Tangara, minister of Higher Education Research, Science and Technology; Fatim Badjie, Minister of Health and Social Welfare;, heads of institutions and departments, and staff of Africell, the partnership is motivated solely by Africell’s passion and dedications to not only provideGSM Services, but also to push the country forward in terms of achieving world class communications standard in all aspects.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Badara Mbye, the chief executive officer of Africell, said The Gambia was the latest place the Thuraya products have been launched among countries where Africell operates, noting that the same product has also been launched by Africell of Sierra Leone.

According to Mbye, each of the two companies- Africell and Thuraya, started operations ten years ago and since then they have been able to achieve success in this short space of time. “Thuraya is a world class company that provides satellite communications within and outside the territorial boundaries of Asia and other parts of the world”, the Africell CEO stated.

According to him, Africell can boast of 94% of nationwide coverage in The Gambia and over 400 roaming partners worldwide, which he said is a remarkable achievement in any international benchmark. The partnership he added is one of the many initiatives they have embark upon as part of their continue effort in satisfying their customers and bringing unbeatable offers to them.

According to Mbye, Africell has over the years registered many achievements and awards they strive for excellence, Mr Mbye said, adding that they were selected first in five years as the GCCI’s telecommunications company of the year. He said what Africell does is to build a great striving model, adding that Africell as a telecommunications company will continue to enhance its capability to shape the market to the delight of their subscribes and the country in general. “We will continue to amuse you (subscribers)”, he said.

The Africell CEO used the opportunity to thank the present government under the able and dynamic leadership of President Yahya Jammeh for creating an enabling environment for business to strive.

On his part, the Thuraya area manager, Roen Evan Menezes, said the partnership is a great achievement for Africell, which shows the company’s willingness in going beyond boundaries in rendering communications service. With the efforts of combining GSM and satellite, the initiative would give Africell the opportunity to have 100 percent network coverage in the country, since there is network accessibility with the Thuruya phone. According to him, the Thuruya’s products are standard and quality ones that can be durable.

“Providing mobile satellite communications to over 140 countries around the world, Thuraya offers a congestion-free network that now covers most of the planet, encompassing Asia, Africa, Australia, the Middle East and Europe,” Mr Menezes concluded.

For his part, Papa Leigh, Head of Corporate Affairs at Africell said with this partnership, universal access to telecommunication will be easier. He said Thuruya makes use of three sophisticated technologies, which are satellite, Global Systems for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Global Positioning System (GPS) in order to provide satellite phones that can operate beyond areas where local networks are unreliable or non-existent, as well as areas withharsh weather conditions.Leigh said this milestone achievement in the anals of Africell started a year ago, adding that it is very timely.