Liquid Telecom, Intelsat Team to Expand Broadband Services in Africa

Intelsat 33e. Photo: Intelsat

Intelsat and pan-African telecommunications group Liquid Telecom, a subsidiary of Econet Global, have announced a new agreement that will introduce Intelsat Epic satellite services into the Liquid Telecom network. As part of the new, multi-year agreement, Liquid Telecom has committed to dedicated services on the Intelsat 33e satellite, which began operations earlier this year.

The solution features ground networking equipment based on the Newtec Dialog Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) platform, including technology developed under the European Space Agency (ESA)-funded Project Indigo announced previously by Intelsat and Newtec.

By taking advantage of Intelsat’s High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) solutions, Liquid Telecom will be able to deliver more bandwidth with greater efficiency to meet the growing needs of businesses across Africa, the company stated. The new Intelsat Epic services will expand Liquid Telecom’s coverage and network capabilities across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, where demand has grown for VSAT technology to deliver connectivity to underserved remote or rural areas.

Engineering work is currently underway and Liquid Telecom expects to begin using the Intelsat Epic platform at the end of July.

Intelsat has also awarded Liquid Telecom a three-year contract to provide fiber backhaul and uplinking services from its South Africa teleport that will be integrated into the IntelsatOne network as Intelsat extends its managed services platform into Africa. The gateway service will enable Intelsat to accelerate the introduction of Intelsat Epic services.