Nigeria’s BeepTool nabs $31m deal from Britain’s Sky and Space Global

Sky and Space Global has signed a network contract with BeepTool to bring affordable messaging and payment services to African markets.

The contract is binding for 5 years with a minimum approximate value of $30 Million and will see Sky and Space Global launch a constellation of 200 nanosatellites in equatorial Low Earth orbit for narrowband communications and will work with BeepTool is an African-based mobile payment, messaging and voice app with a user base north of 800,000 across Africa and globally.

BeepTool and Sky and Space Global will collaborate to integrate the BeepTool messaging app with Sky and Space Global’s communication bandwidth software systems. As a condition of launching the services, BeepTool will run a field trial of its messaging app using SAS’ first 3 Diamonds nanosatellites to ensure that the BeepTool application works seamlessly over the SAS network as demonstrated by SAS recently.

Sky and Space Global’s Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Meir Moalem said:
“We are very pleased to be working with partners such as BeepTool who share our vision of using technology to connect the unconnected and drive global socio-economic development. This is another step forward for us as a business, with a substantial financial investment from a key partner. The contract with BeepTool provides a strong validation of our business and technology capabilities and demonstrates their confidence in our ability to deliver on our promises.

During the past couple of years we have been working hard to meet every single milestone in our business plan and have continuously proven our commitment to our business partners and investors. We look forward to continuing to work with BeepTool as we move forward with our goal of launching our constellation of 200 nanosatellites by 2020.”

BeepTool CEO, Precious Ada Enoh said: “Having already been part of a history-making integration with Sky and Space Global (SAS), we’re pleased to be cementing our partnership with this new contract. Our work with SAS so far has built our confidence in their business potential and technology capabilities and we look forward to working together to drive financial inclusion in Africa and other emerging markets across the world.”