At 15, eStream reveals next development phase beyond access business

Muyiwa Ogungboye, the chief executive officer of eStream Networks Limited, has revealed the new phase of development for the indigenous internet service provider (ISP) as the company clocks 15 years of providing internet access across the country.

According to him, the disruption that followed incursion of coronavirus has opened up many opportunities for the company to tap into as it further realised many areas of strength it had not really explored before the pandemic and the lockdowns that followed it.

“We are gradually moving slowly out of access. Access has brought us to this point. We have been doing access for fifteen years. But the pandemic has opened our eyes to many other opportunities that we have never thought of,” he said.

Ogungboye said that beyond access, the company is gradually extending its operation to prioritise solutions and applications.

“We are not going to be writing software because we are not a software company. But we want to push some applications in the cloud that are user-friendly. That is already on our shelf.

“They are applications that organisations would be able to use easily. We are coming up with a whole lot of security solutions that will be affordable for homes, individuals and enterprises. We are coming up with a lot of entertainment, especially in the gaming sector.

“eStream is now looking towards services that are solution-based and not typical access-based. That is the future. That is our future and we believe it is going to be a big one,” Ogungboye revealed on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee marked recently.

However, he stressed that eStream’s traditional access business would still be running but the solution services will gradually evolve out.

“It is already starting as we are already in the market selling solutions on a small scale and the demand is rising as well. But very soon, you will begin to hear more about our various solutions and services and that is what we want to move into.

“It is part of our plan for this year and we are making frantic efforts to do that. Although the pandemic slowed us down a little bit, we are getting momentum now to move on with our objectives and vision,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the operations of the company over the years, Ogungboye said that eStream has moved from one technology to about four different technologies in a space of 15 years.

“We started out as a satellite communication company providing the traditional V-SAT, specifically to the financial sector. But over time, we have evolved into providing communications services through fibre, radio and 4GLTE. This evolution happened about five years ago. So, in a nutshell, we have grown tremendously to the glory of God,” he said.