Vector illustration by WangXiNa on Freepik.

Eutelsat signed two agreements this week for Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) services in Africa, with MSTelcom in Angola, and Paratus for southern Africa. 

Paratus, a network services provider in Sub-Saharan Africa signed a multi-year, multi-million agreement to expand its work with Eutelsat for OneWeb connectivity services. The expanded agreement includes solutions for fixed sites, comms-on-the-move and comms-on-pause in South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia.

Paratus has been a long-time distributor of Eutelsat’s Geostationary Orbit (GEO) connectivity services and was one of the first adopters of its OneWeb LEO connectivity in early 2024. Paratus built Eutelsat’s gateway facility in Luanda-Bengo, Angola, which opened in June of this year. 

“Expanding our LEO service offering with Eutelsat strengthens our strategy of delivering adaptable and robust connectivity solutions across Africa. The combined GEO and LEO capability allows us to serve customers with greater flexibility and performance,” Paratus CEO Schalk Erasmus said. 

Separately, MSTelcom, a subsidiary of Sonangol Group, will distribute Eutelsat’s OneWeb services in Angola to enterprise, public sector and telecom customers particularly for oil and gas, maritime, and for fixed land operations. Eutelsat is the only licensed LEO services operator in Angola.