By Peter J. Brown
Satellite technology is going to play an essential role on multiple fronts in 21st century Africa. This huge continent has an enormous and growing appetite for satellite and wireless services in general. The regional priorities vary widely across Africa from the standpoint of telecommunications infrastructure and satellite equipment, and service providers are scrambling to address the needs of a growing list of customers.
Africa is coping with a long list of social, political, environmental and economic problems as well, ranging from recurring environmental disasters such as drought, to persistent tribal conflicts in central Africa in particular. Although there are bright spots, the overall business climate is unpredictable, and stability is not always present.
What should be the top priority for the satellite industry in Africa today? "Considering the low income level of most African countries, the top priority of the satellite industry should be to deliver very low cost services using low cost terminal equipment. Solutions to be implemented should certainly include high-power satellite coverage," says Ahmed Toumi, director general and CEO of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO). "Creating a worldwide market for terminal equipment through a common standard also would lower costs through economies of scale. In addition, promoting the interoperability of satellite systems could be of tremendous help in providing competition to African end users."
With a growing number of African customers seeking new voice and data services, is the satellite industry doing a good job keeping up with this demand? "The satellite industry is trying hard to keep up with the demand for new services, especially the ones requested by mobile network operators and ISPs and to bring to life innovative technical solutions," says Toumi. "However, the satellite industry players are limited by the technical characteristics of the existing capacity and, in my opinion, satellite operators are not doing enough to promote low cost terminal equipment adapted to the specific African environment."
There is no question that Africa is a potentially lucrative market. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recently estimated that Africa would experience a 64 percent increase in all telecom traffic by 2005, for example. The fact that telecom reform is now a precondition for U.S. aid is one reason for this prediction. The International Monetary Fund and the ITU, with its universal access policy, are important strategic players in terms of opening up new markets in Africa.
Flavien Bachabi, regional vice president of Africa sales at Intelsat Ltd., reports that while voice traffic accounted for 50 percent of the estimated $114 million of Intelsat's total revenue in the region in 2002, data is the fastest growing segment. Corporate network applications represent the second largest service category in Africa, at 22 percent after voice.
Internet users in the region almost doubled in the period from 1995 to 2000, according to Bachabi, with the exception of South Africa, which experienced a 123 percent increase. "We intend to maintain our position, and we are seeing a noticeable upturn in demand for basic Internet connectivity," he adds. "As Intelsat moves from a satellite-centric to a network-centric company, we are partnering more aggressively and positioning ourselves to take advantage of the broader trend involving the growing cooperation between the public and private sectors in numerous African countries."
Providing mobile and cellular phone backhaul and cell to cell or base station interconnection services for companies such as South Africa-based Vodacom is another hot growth sector, as companies realize that satellite offers a pathway that might be more reliable than terrestrial alternatives, according to Bachabi.
Driven By A Lower Entry Cost
The entire realm of hybrid satellite wireless services, which extend into the cellular phone and rural telephony sectors, has a distinct edge today in Africa for several reasons. "Combining satellite with wireless local loop (WLL) is a very attractive approach, but a more stable and a possible global-harmonized spectrum for the WLL component is important," Toumi says. "Otherwise, this hybrid approach runs the risk of simply adding cost and complexity to end users."
"In Africa in general, because of the lack of local-loop connectivity, such as fiber, cable, DSL, etc., hybrid terrestrial wireless and satellite transmissions not only have an edge, but in most cases are essential," says Jean-Pierre Kabanda, director of sales for Africa at New Skies Satellites NV.
At the same time, as noted a moment ago, the demand for access to the Internet shows no sign of abating. New Skies includes Comet Technology and GS Telecom as major customers in Africa for Internet connectivity and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) networks. GS Telecom is based in Nigeria, and U.K.-based Comet Technology has SimbaNet subsidiaries in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria. Cellular operators on New Skies include MTN Group in Uganda, Cameroon and Nigeria and MSI Celtel, which is an indirect customer, having bought capacity through Netherlands-based Carrier2Carrier.
"Other than cellular operators, we don't have a lot of customers providing telephony services in Africa. What we are seeing, however, is a number of our data and Internet customers who are interested in providing voice services, including Voice over IP (VoIP)," says Kabanda.
"Our most successful value-added service in Africa has been our IPsys Internet backbone connectivity services. Our IPsys customers can bypass all shared ground networks and associated congestion points as well as any terrestrial connectivity gaps," adds Kabanda. "This enables them to seamlessly deliver rich Internet content to even the remotest locations at high speeds."
New Skies is also looking to offer more video services to African customers, such as video turnaround services and, via its NSS 7 satellite, companies such as Media Overseas are now broadcasting DTH programming to several countries in West Africa. And what is going on elsewhere? In May, Kuwait Messaging Services/FalconStream announced it would use multiple Ku-band transponders on NSS 6 and NSS 7 to offer IPsys-based access services to more than 2,000 customer sites, including many in North Africa.
African service providers are as eager to add new revenue streams as their satellite industry partners. Companies like Vipersat Networks, which has worked with Carrier2Carrier on deployments in Angola, South Africa, Mozambique and Cameroon, are making steady progress in the region by demonstrating they can provide a flexible and low cost solution. Vipersat Networks was recently acquired by Comtech Telecommunications.
"The African market is driven by a lower entry cost with an emphasis on small networks, which then grow easily and seamlessly as the customer base expands," says Tim Floerchinger, vice president of sales for Vipersat Networks. "Customers can allocate bandwidth within pre-assigned pools of bandwidth in increments down to 1 Hz of resolution. They can buy or sell bandwidth on demand."
Vipersat prefers Selective Time Division Multiple Access (STDMA), which Floerchinger labels as an ideal solution with capabilities to switch to Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) dynamically based upon node driven demand.
"We offer a remote that automatically switches bandwidth to optimize space segment based upon load and application," says Floerchinger. "It allows our customers to run their multimedia applications including IP videoconferencing and streaming video, along with VoIP and their IP data traffic, with the correct amount of their aggregate bandwidth allocated to each remote based upon its needs."
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