Attacks on base stations: Boko Haram turns to Thuraya

More facts are beginning to emerge on why the Northern Nigeria-based Boko Haram terrorist group has been attacking telecommunications infrastructure across the country without recourse.

Investigations by DigitalSENSEBusiness News confirm that members of Boko Haram in the northern part of the country have not turned to the use of Thuraya, an acclaimed satellite mobile solutions service.

Our investigations also revealed that the fear of using the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications to track the Boko Haram and their activities.

DigitalSENSE Business News recalls that till date several thousands of base stations have been bombed by members of Boko Haram in the northern states, while the impact has been massive and across all the GSM operators, including MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat.

Our sources also confirmed that members of this group know what they are doing, but fail to know what they want, stressing that bulk of the base stations that have been torched so far are the base station hubs, which means they are the gateway to other sites and usually connecting more than one operator.

The main reason for changing to Thuraya as gathered by DigitalSENSE Business News by the Boko Haram terrorist sect, was to avoid security tracking of their activities, especially the mobile phone. Although it was received on good note that their activities could be traceable via their data application.

The Director of Communications, Thuraya, Ms Shereen Hanafi confirmed to DigitalSENSE Business News that their subscriber base in Africa and Nigeria particularly consists of a wide range of users including enterprise users, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and relief organizations, such as the United Nations (UN), International Red Cross/Red Crescent that use of Thuraya XT handheld and Thuraya Internet Protocol (IP) terminals for critical communications in remote areas such as Southern Sudan, Libya to name a few.

“We have a license to offer services in Nigeria and we are currently recruiting a local Service Partner to help us better address the needs of the energy sector, whereby we see the greatest demand for our mobile satellite services,” she said, citing an example with the Royal Dutch Shell, which has been a long established customer of Thuraya’s products in Nigeria for the past 10 years.

As said by her, Nigeria is well served by the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication and terrestrial networks, which is why Thuraya sees the greatest opportunity for mobile satellite services in the remote areas or more specifically for the energy sector.

On the likely concentration of such subscription in Nigerian region, Ms Hanafi said, Thuraya has an indirect sales distribution model, which allows it to sell mobile satellite products and services through a global network of reputable Service Partners.

As to the claims that Thuraya is dominantly used in the Northern Nigeria, she said that such claims cannot be verified due to lack of its own LSP who should on ground in Nigeria.

“As such, we cannot verify such information, as we currently do not have a local Service Partner in Nigeria,” stressing that Thuraya is not in a position for confidentiality reasons to disclose the whereabouts of its end-users.

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