In the absence of a reliable backbone, satellite has provided transmission and backhaul capacity, as well as international connectivity. NITEL has access to Sat-3/WASC and is gradually upgrading its national transmission capacity. Globacom launched its "Glo Xpress" long-distance transmission service in July 2005, and private operators continue to invest heavily in the roll-out of their own microwave and wireless networks. The regulator Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has liberalized the long-distance market, and in addition to the two national carriers, there are now seven national long-distance operator (NLDOs) that are investing in the roll-out of fiber backbones in different regions of the country. The mobile operators have also deployed their own independent national fiber and microwave backbones, and the unified access license granted to the mobile operators would allow them to commercialize these backbones. A key factor has been the entry of foreign operators into this market, through the acquisition of Nigerian operators. Nigeria has several Gbit/s of international bandwidth, of which NITEL was only serving some 310 Mbit/s using the Sat-3/WASC cable, even though this only represents a fraction of the capacity that it owns on the cable. The balance of Nigeria's international bandwidth is provided entirely by satellite. Of up to six new submarine cables that would land in Nigeria, contracts have been awarded for two: Glo-1, and Main-1 (the others include AWCC, WAFS, Infinity, and Uhurunet). Glo-1 is expected to enter into service in 2009 and Main-1 from May 2010. In the medium term, the introduction of new submarine cables and national backbones linking Lagos to inland cities and towns will squeeze satellite operators, which have met the demand for services and filled the vacuum for data infrastructure. Following is a list of key broadband networks underway:   The government passed the Electronic Communications Act in 2006 and is dramatically restructuring the sector towards a converged framework, converting vertically integrated licenses previously granted to PSTN, mobile, USAL, PTN and VANS operators into new Electronic Communications Network Services (ECNS), Electronic Communications Services (ECS), or broadcasting licenses. In January 2009, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) granted ECS and ECNS licenses to over 500 VANS operators. The South African market is in the process of being dramatically restructured, moving away from old-style, vertically integrated segments under the 1996 Telecommunications Act and 2001 Telecommunications Amendment Act towards horizontal service layers, and the new-style licensing regime is being converted to accommodate this.