Amsterdam — Celtel Sierra Leone, the leading mobile phone operator in the country, has yet progressed dramatically since the introduction, in June, of a new technology aimed at further improving its service to customers.

With the launch of its own International Telephone Gateway, Celtel Sierra Leone has now greater and instant access to 190 countries worldwide, including all the African countries. The new system has brought several benefits to Sierra Leone, notably lower tariffs, instant access to some of the most difficult places in Africa and the world, world-wide telephone roaming according to mutual agreements, access to satellite telephones, global SMS and many others.

The International Gateway uses state of the art technology and has a current capacity of 150 duplex telephone channels with possibility of further expansion

International Carrier Services are being provided by Link Africa, a sister company owned by MSI based in Europe. The Gateway is connected to the Celtel Network in Sierra Leone over a satellite earth station, operating using LinkAfrica's space segment capacity contracted from Intelsat.

The new International gateway is located in the Celtel Sierra Leone's Headquarters complex at Wilberforce, and stands at 500ft above sea level, overlooking the capital city of Freetown.