State-owned signal distribution company Sentech is developing a streaming platform that will enable elearning and access to educational content for learners.

Leveraging the computing power of Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of its suppliers, Sentech continues to evolve and develop digital solutions for its customers to ensure relevance in an ever-changing media landscape.

“Within the Covid-19 era, we have managed to ensure continuity of broadcast services to all our customers maintaining a high level of service availability while adhering to the regulation of lockdown levels,” says Sentech acting chief marketing and sales officer Kopano Thage.

The restrictions and regulations on social gatherings and physical distancing, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, prohibited congregations from mass gatherings during Lockdown Level 5 late in March and into April last year. Mass gatherings are still limited.

“During the Easter period, which is important for our customers, we were able to develop a streaming service platform for our religious channels to answer the call of social distancing as the lockdown regulations prohibited congregation from mass gatherings,” he says.

Further, the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant restrictions forced many educational institutions to adapt to remote learning to minimise the disruptions.

It is expected that schools will continue to increase and improve their use of remote instruction even after the Covid-19 pandemic abates.

“We understand the importance of education in our country, most especially by providing access to rural and underserviced areas with the view of addressing all citizens within our country that do not have access to streaming services,” says Thage.

This continuity is being enabled by the AWS Cape Town data centres, which allow for the localisation of data in support of maintaining the sovereignty of the data and improving the efficiency of accessing that data.