Future of Satellite

Technology is a constantly shifting landscape; a realm in which development takes place at such a dizzying pace that a niche market of technologywatchers and industry analysts has evolved to keep up with it. In this burgeoning tech-world probably the single most vexing question right now is that of the future of satellite-based communications in an arena where the profusion of new high-speed, high-capacity terrestrial and undersea fibre-optic cables seems to be the order of the day.

 While some may feel that satellite is archaic technology, nothing could be further from the truth. Satellite technology is continuously evolving, and the pace has picked up exponentially in recent years.

‘Only a few years ago,’ says SkyVision CEO Mark Gazit, ‘a typical satellite link was an expensive pointto- point link that provided limited bandwidth quality.’ But today, SkyVision’s customers are deploying continent-wide enterprise networks, with the latest quality of service technology, full-mesh connectivity, advanced network management and bandwidth allocation systems. Let’s try and strip the issue of some of the conjecture that surrounds it. Fibre-optic cable – as embodied in all the new submarine cables either already landed and in service in various parts of Africa or still to come ashore between now and 2011 – is very good for transferring high volumes of data over long distances at breakneck speeds.

The proliferation of cables terminating in various places and linking up with the networks of various established providers will offer as yet undreamed of speeds and capacities to the end user, all at appreciably lower prices than ever before. But cable – and terrestrial technologies in general – are notoriously bedevilled by the topography of the real estate through which they have to pass. Historically, the infrastructural cost of laying out cable service has often been such as to make it economically unfeasible to cover large tracts of rural Africa. Despite the present optimisation of fibre-optic technology in Africa, satellite still has a very important role to play, particularly in terms of providing rural Africa with access to the internet.

Why, and under what circumstances? By virtue of its footprint, satellite connectivity – although slower and often fully subscribed – is unrivalled in the access it offers to even the most remote of locations. Loftily poised hundreds of kilometres above Earth, existing geosynchronous satellites see all, and get into all the nooks and crannies, however remote, that cable can never hope to reach. Next-generation satellites coming on-stream will optimise these advantages, and will have enough capacity and data transmission speed for all those wishing to use them. Says trend-setting O3B’s Ladi Okuneye: ‘Most of today’s developed countries, including quite a few in Africa, are now linked by thousands of kilometres of submarine fibre-optic cables that carry their core internet traffic.

It’s a very cost-effective solution once the fibre is in place; but in many land-locked countries and remote rural areas in Africa, fibre simply isn’t or hasn’t been available, due to economic and, sometimes, political roadblocks. It is for this primary reason that satellite will always have a role to play in connectivity on the continent. ‘Africa’s land-mass coverage requirements outstrip those of the US, China, Europe, India, Argentina and the UK combined. Laying cables to cover all of Africa is simply too expensive, and in any case, the demand from these markets is too small to create a compelling business argument for doing so. This is the advantage satellite has over fibre – being able to achieve this kind of land-mass coverage at a fraction of the cost.’ O3b is currently building a constellation of medium Earth orbit satellites that will deliver fibre-like internet backhaul services. The O3b satellite constellation aims to provide high-speed, low-latency services at speeds reaching into gigabits per second. The satellites will orbit Earth at about one-third of the altitude of a current geosynchronous satellite, meaning that data will take less time to travel up and back down again. For the consumer, this low latency translates into better voice connections and a generally snappier web experience.

While some may feel that satellite is an archaic technology, nothing could be further from the truth. Starting operational services in January 2010, the SpaceCom satellite AMOS-5i will provide powerful pan-African C-band and regional Ku-band coverage from the company’s new orbital location at 17°E. This forms part of an ongoing programme aimed at extending broadcast and broadband internet reach into the rural regions of the world. Once in orbit this satellite will enable SpaceCom to offer providers and end users a bouquet of communications services, including broadband internet, VSAT communications, rural telephony, data trunking, mobile backhaul, direct-to-home TV broadcasting and video distribution.

With this new orbital slot, coupled with its additional capacity and expanded footprint, SpaceCom says that the AMOS-5i satellite, which will take over from AMOS-5, will place the company at the forefront of satellite operators delivering comprehensive satellite solutions. Africa is seen as a ripe market by many players, and competition between them is set to guarantee that prices will drop appreciably in the short to medium term. Afsat Communications is part of South Africa’s powerful Naspers Group and is the result of a strategic merger with South African-based – but globally ambitious – mobile phone provider M-WEB in 2007. It’s a private company with its headquarters in Kenya and subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria.

With an established presence in more than 30 African countries and formed to provide high-end satellite data network solutions for corporates, banks and government organisations in East and Central Africa, Afsat claims more than 20 years’ experience in the telecoms sector, 10 of which have been spent building VSAT networks in East Africa. With more than 4 000 of these terminals already in service, Afsat’s enviable client base of more than 50 000 corporate customers includes Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Absa (South Africa), NBC Bank, Commercial Rural Development Bank (Tanzania), Stanbic Bank, Caltex, Diamond Trust Bank (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania) and British American Tobacco (Kenya and DRC). Offering its custom-designed services under the flagship brand iWay, the company’s expertise is in designing, installing and operating satellite networks to suit customer requirements. Afsat also offers a low-cost direct satellite internet access solution called iWay Broadband, whose international customers include Oxfam, World Vision, SchoolNet Uganda, Boeing Aircraft, the Canadian Embassy, the Benedictine Fathers, ICRC Tanzania and Uganda’s Rakai District Project.

There is no doubt that African mobile telephone providers have been some of the greatest beneficiaries of recent innovations. SkyVision, to quote another flourishing example, today provides satellite connectivity to many of Africa’s leading mobile operators. SkyVision’s managed networks enable them to provide both voice and data services to rural communities without compromising on profitability or end-user service quality. Socially responsible and with clear vision, the company emphasises that access to broadband internet in rural communities contributes economically and is socially enabling in many ways, from providing school children with access to a world of knowledge to allowing farmers and local businesses to grow their market. Saving themselves sometimes days of travel, citizens in rural areas can now interact with political parties and elected representatives, as well as with government departments. This broadens and facilitates democratic processes, and of course the new ease of contact will allow the added advantage of easier access to medical and other resources that were previously scarce or inaccessible.

Says SkyVision’s Gazit: ‘Given the extremely large distances in Africa and the low average economic power of rural communities, it is expected that fibre-based solutions will be limited to major centres. However, the cost of satellite systems is not influenced by these distances. As such, satellite remains a major component of any large country’s national broadband internet agenda, regardless of whether that country is Nigeria or the US. ‘As satellite technology continues to improve, more and more bandwidth can be provided to rural African communities at cost-effective prices. ‘Whereas a fibre-based network provides a solution within only a single region, a satellite network can dynamically share bandwidth across a country, a continent or the world.’

For example, in the past, a company may have worked with one ISP in Europe, another in North America and yet a third satellite operator for Africa. Each of these companies would only be connected via the internet. This meant that the company needed to spend money on secure gateways, and would be limited to the often erratic performance of the internet. By choosing a single, global provider such as SkyVision, a company can now use that provider’s global network as the platform for their private WAN, ensuring that there is a single point of contact for their worldwide needs, and ensuring end-to-end security and network quality. It therefore follows that despite the very valid claims presented by operators and owners of submarine fibre-optic cables, satellite technology is with us for the long haul, and advances in and capital commitments to the future of the field translate to a new era of widespread internet access, lower prices and communication for all Africa’s people.