Satellite-based broadband services are increasingly becoming a fit for Africa, as the costly and time-consuming deployment of terrestrial-based broadband services remained uneconomical.

This was one of the messages emerging on the sidelines of the AfricaCom conference, being held in Cape Town, this week.

Intelsat marketing and solutions development senior VP Michael DeMarco said the role of satellite was changing and, while there were certain services where it made more economical sense to leverage terrestrial technology, it was too costly to roll out fibre to the rural areas in Africa.

Many industries, such as banking, mining and oil and gas, applied satellite technologies to guarantee “always on” connectivity where any form of downtime would be disastrous, but satellite technology also offered a viable option to complement terrestrial-based rural coverage.

Intelsat regional VP for Africa sales Grant Marais said that, regardless of location, the deployment of reliable and affordable broadband connectivity through satellite to everyone in Africa was realistic.

“Traditional capacity in-orbit today can help network operators satisfy current demand, while high-throughput satellite (HTS) options will provide the additional throughput needed to keep up with continued growth,” he said.

Viasat Vsat Networks Southern Africa regional sales manager Andre du Toit told Engineering News Online that a mindset shift was needed to embrace satellite communications as a viable, cost effective means of providing broadband services, particularly to underserviced regions and schools.

Satellites were no longer the expensive equipment of five years ago, he noted, adding that it was now 100% reliable and boasted quality comparable to that of asymmetric digital subscriber line, or ADSL, at prices at least 80 times lower than fibre.

“We need people to believe it can work here [in South Africa],” he stated.

However, perceptions of satellites being too expensive or unreliable remained.

This was no longer true, but people were being hamstrung by their past experiences, Du Toit explained.

These outdated perceptions formed part of the reason Viasat had not established a South Africa-focused satellite.

Viasat believed it would take government to step up and absorb the benefits of an exclusive, South Africa-focused satellite to trigger the change that would bring about the critical mass needed to deploy lower-cost satellite-based broadband services.

Du Toit believed the disruptive technologies of Viasat, which were spread across the US, Europe, Australia and the Middle East, with considerations under way for services in a number of Asian countries, would be suited to the South African market.

If government could anchor a satellite, every computer in the country’s schools could be equipped with speeds of 10 Gb/s.

Delivering computer-based learning and e-textbooks for education was “a lot cheaper” and faster than equipping every student at the 27 000 schools in the nation with the required paper-based textbooks for education, he said, adding that it was time to start using technology to advance people.

Du Toit admitted that it was a “big” multimillion-dollar investment; however, he argued that the long-term rewards outweighed the initial capital injection, particularly as satellite capabilities provided double the capacity of ADSL at the same cost.

Viasat business development director Harry Stribos added that a government-driven initiative would be appropriate for South Africa, citing the “great success” of Australia’s national broadband network, which comprised mixed elements of terrestrial and satellite features.

Australia currently offered a mix of complementary broadband services of the same quality at a standard price.

Meanwhile, satellite operator Eutelsat regional VP for Africa Rodney Benn said Eutelsat was moving to enhance its broadband offerings through satellite.

The company predominantly provided broadcasting services through satellites across Africa, with 1 350 channels – of Africa’s 2 100 channels – distributed through its satellites.

“We are a leader in video over satellite,” Benn commented.

However, Eutelsat now aimed to widen its data delivery portfolio, as satellite-based services formed an “important piece” of ensuring people were connected.

“The only way to get to rural areas is through satellite,” he said.

Currently, data and value-added services, such as broadband, accounted for 21.2% of Eutelsat’s revenue, while multiuse and video applications accounted for 12% and 66.8% respectively.

The group’s multiuse offerings included contracts with governments and administrations that source satellite capacity from commercial operators to meet specific needs in certain regions.

Benn noted that its “slice” of data services was growing, with the company gaining traction in securing broadband-related contracts throughout Africa, particularly in rural regions out of terrestrial reach.

The company was recently awarded new contracts in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, besides others, for data and broadband services provided through the C-, Ku- and Ka-bands.

ORBIT PLANS
Intelsat was gearing up to deliver two Intelsat Epic next-generation, global high-performance satellite platforms – one of which would be in Africa.

The Intelsat 33e satellite, covering Africa and the Middle East, was scheduled to launch in 2017, with DeMarco noting that the high-capacity and high-efficiency satellite, operated in the Ku-band, “would be perfect for broadband activity in Africa”.

The launch would place Intelsat in a position to deliver broadband services to rural regions at lower prices for those wanting to expand into the harder-to-reach areas.

The Epic series satellites were described as an innovative approach to satellite and network architecture using C-, Ku- and Ka-bands, wide beams, spot beams and frequency reuse technology to deliver more throughput per unit of spectrum.

The satellites would be integrated with Intelsat’s existing fleet and is based on open architecture and engineered for backwards compatibility.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” DeMarco said of the project that had started three years ago.

Meanwhile, Eutelsat, which had 35 satellites in orbit – nine of which were Africa-focused – planned to launch another seven over the coming years.

Two of these, which would be launched within the next two years, would provide a capacity boost for Africa.

The Eutelsat 8WestB, targeting Africa, Middle East and South America within the C-band, would be launched in the third quarter of 2015, while Eutelsat 36C would be launched for broadcasters in Russia and sub-Saharan Africa during the fourth quarter of 2015.

By next year, a quarter of Eutelsat’s fleet would provide direct coverage to sub-Saharan Africa.

The group also planned to launch Eutelsat 115WestB in the first quarter of 2015 for coverage in the Americas and Eutelsat 9B for Europe in the second quarter of 2015.

Eutelsat 117WestB, scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2015, and Eutelsat 65WestA, set for take-off in the second quarter of 2016, would service Latin America.

Asia Pacific would also get a satellite when the Eutelsat 172B was launched in the first half of 2017.

Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Viasat, which currently had a 140 Gb satellite servicing the US, planned to launch another 240-Gb-capacity satellite in 2016, to cover a broader footprint in North America, Central America, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.