TechPression

Tag: OneWeb

  • Vox to offer OneWeb satellite in South Africa via Q-KON

    Vox to offer OneWeb satellite in South Africa via Q-KON

    On Tuesday, Q-KON and Vox announced an expanded partnership, with Vox joining as a OneWeb Partner through Q-KON’s Twoobii super smart satellite solutions.

    This strategic move aims to enhance Vox’s enterprise connectivity portfolio by incorporating Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services, which will provide enterprise customers with reduced latency, superior network reliability, and faster data transfer speeds.

    Read also: Unlocking Africa’s Potential: How technology and investment can drive job creation

    Q-KON and Vox deliver LEO solutions to enterprises

    The partnership between Q-KON and Vox is designed to leverage the advantages of LEO satellite constellations. By integrating Twoobii-OneWeb solutions, Vox can offer its enterprise customers a primary connectivity option or a high-availability backup for traditional terrestrial systems. This mainly benefits underserved markets, enabling them to access reliable voice services with defined Quality of Service (QoS) configurations.

    Theo van Zyl, Head of Wireless Solutions at Vox, noted, “Becoming a OneWeb Partner through Q-KON is a strategic move that allows both companies to leverage synergies and enhance value for customers. Therefore, African enterprise users can now fully utilise LEO satellite connectivity.”

    Kathleen Morris, Satellite Product Manager at Vox, emphasised the company’s commitment to strong partnerships, stating, “At Vox, our growth has always been built on trusted technology collaborations. Thus, as a partner of Eutelsat OneWeb LEO services through Q-KON, we can offer our customers a full suite of connectivity options.”

    Read also: Smart village initiative brings AI benefits to rural Zambia

    Strengthening satellite connectivity across Southern Africa

    This partnership strengthens satellite connectivity across Southern Africa by providing high-performance, resilient connectivity for enterprises.

    Hendrik Bezuidenhout, Account Director: Key Accounts at Q-KON, highlighted the value of securing Vox as a Twoobii-OneWeb reseller, stating, “Providing world-class LEO services to enterprise customers throughout Southern Africa further strengthens the business case for satellite connectivity across all sectors.”

    Vox’s selection of Twoobii VSAT Access has already proven successful in offering seamless voice and data connectivity across South Africa, with speeds ranging from 2 Mbps to 20 Mbps. This solution is optimised for off-grid users and offers rapid deployment and high uptime availability of 99.5 per cent.

    Integrating LEO services will further enhance Vox’s ability to deliver robust and reliable connectivity solutions to its enterprise customers.

  • OneWeb Increases Its African Satellite Reach

    OneWeb Increases Its African Satellite Reach

    Global telecommunication and satellite provider OneWeb is expanding its presence in Africa, as it has announced up to three partnership deals in weeks.

    OneWeb, on Friday, reported that it had gotten into a five-year agreement with Q-KON Africa to distribute low-Earth orbit(LEO) satellite connectivity services in Africa.

    Q-KON Africa will be in charge of providing OneWeb’s high-speed, low-latency satellite connectivity in key African countries to help schools, governments, businesses, and hospitals.

    The Q-KON Africa’s CEO commented, “For us, OneWeb’s global lead and focus to deliver assured business grade,  high-performance satellite services are the perfect option to expand our successful Twoobii Smart Satellite Services for Southern Africa. OneWeb’s technology innovations will deliver data speeds of 100 Mbps and low latency of 70 ms, which will enable us to further service the business, enterprise, and financial markets.” 

    Read also: Paratus Partners With OneWeb To Build Satellite Gateway In Angola

    OneWeb And Airtel Africa Reached An Agreement

    Airtel Africa is one of the leading mobile money and telecom services suppliers, with a presence in 14 nations. Airtel Africa offers a comprehensive array of telecommunications solutions to its more than 128.4 million customers, both domestically and internationally.

    It was announced that One Web and Airtel Africa had signed a partnership agreement. The Partnership will focus on offering enterprise and civil government customers satellite communications services for a range of use cases, including connectivity in remote areas, hospitals, agricultural settings, educational institutions, and the energy and mining industries.

    The objective is to provide high-speed, low-latency LEO connectivity services to the government and business sectors across the continent. OneWeb and Airtel Africa will also provide essential backhaul in underserved and unserved areas.

    OneWeb’s VP of Mobility and AMEA, Ben Griffin, stated: “At OneWeb, we believe that connection everywhere changes everything so we are excited to be working with Airtel Africa to enhance OneWeb’s connectivity solutions across the African continent. This is a strategic fit, given our shared commitment to resiliency and excellence in communications services, and the partnership represents another exciting milestone on our path to delivering global connectivity.”

    OneWeb and Airtel Africa publicly stated that they have started testing the service in Global telecommunications and satellite providers with plans to achieve full coverage across Airtel Africa’s footprint, which involves 14 countries in East, Central, and West Africa, by 2023.

    The collaboration will focus on providing satellite communications services to enterprise and civilian government customers.

    The announcements expand on OneWeb’s existing African initiatives, which include the deployment of Satellite Network Portals (SNP) in Angola, South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, and Mauritius.

    Group Enterprise Director for Airtel Business at Airtel Africa, Luc Serviant, commented: “Internet penetration is rising across Africa and systems are even more connected as the digital transformation is driving growth amongst organizations. Through our partnership with OneWeb, we will support SMEs, entrepreneurs, corporates, and governments to do business everywhere in Africa, with low latency and highly resilient communication services. OneWeb and Airtel Africa will begin trialing service in South Africa in September, with plans to achieve full coverage in 2023 across Airtel Africa’s footprint, comprising 14 countries in East, Central, and West Africa.”

    OneWeb’s Deal With Paratus Group In Angola

    OneWeb announced earlier this month that it had managed to reach a multi-year agreement with Paratus Group in Angola to build a satellite gateway in the nation’s capital Luanda, which is scheduled to go online in the second half of 2023.

    This gateway will allow the provision of high-speed, low-latency connectivity to organizations, higher education institutions, clinics, and schools in underserved areas, as well as low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite services to several countries within the region. This is the first of several OneWeb gateways scheduled to open in Africa.

    With the recent launch of the Paratus fibre connection to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DCR); the opening of the Paratus Group’s data centers in Namibia and Zambia; and coverage in all Angolan provinces, and the agreement, Paratus now has the materials to build an advanced network hub in Angola that allows for expansion beyond its borders.

  • Paratus Partners With OneWeb To Build Satellite Gateway In Angola

    Paratus Partners With OneWeb To Build Satellite Gateway In Angola

    Paratus Group partners with OneWeb, a global telecommunications company to build a satellite gateway in Luanda, the capital of Angola that will be operational in the second half of 2023

    The new gateway will enable the provision of high-speed, low-latency access to businesses, government, schools, clinics, and hospitals in underserved areas as well as low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite services to numerous nations in the region.

    The teleport, which will connect to OneWeb’s LEO infrastructure to connect Africa and the rest of the world, will consist of a network hosting facility and 16 antennas.

    This is the first of numerous planned satellite gateways across Africa, according to OneWeb.

    According to Rolf Mendelsohn, Chief Technical Officer of Paratus Group, “with this agreement, we are taking another giant step in realizing our plan to use Angola as a communications hub for the region.”

    Read also: Paratus Partners With OneWeb To Build Satellite Gateway In Angola

    What This Project Mean to Paratus and One Web

    It reinforces their exceptional capability in creating top-notch telecommunications infrastructure in Africa that they have been chosen as OneWeb’s preferred partner to install the gateway in Angola.

    They can effectively and cheaply close that gap by setting up OneWeb teleports linked to many LEO satellites.

    This arrangement, the recently built Paratus fiber connection to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the opening of the Paratus Group’s data centers in Zambia and Namibia, and coverage in every province of Angola demonstrate that Paratus has the required infrastructure to provide a highly advanced network hub in Angola and one that permits expansion outside of its borders.

    According to Joe Paciaroni, Director of Ground Infrastructure at OneWeb, the need for LEO satellite solutions is evident when you consider the breadth and longevity of the digital divide and the connectivity constraints for enterprises operating in rural or distant places. Only 50% of people worldwide have mobile internet access, and many live in Africa. He started that they can easily and cheaply bridge that gap by putting in OneWeb teleports connected to hundreds of LEOs.

    They have decided to work with Paratus Angola because the company is based in Africa, fully comprehends market expectations, invests in addressing them, and is dedicated to improving African connections through first-rate digital infrastructure.

    The teleport, which will connect to OneWeb’s LEO infrastructure, will have 16 antennae and a hosting network facility.

    Zambia is set to move from using Analogue satellite to Digital satellite

    Satellites Galore by Paratus

    Angola’s gateway construction announcement follows Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite Internet service gaining a license to operate in Malawi after receiving permits in Nigeria and Mozambique.

    Paratus Angola stated during its rebranding earlier this year that it intends to leverage its resources, including offices in seven SADC countries, four data centers (two of which are in Angola), and five satellite teleports with more than 4,000 customer sites, in order to double its revenue within the next five years.

    On its site, the pan-African corporation presently runs two data centers, the first of which opened in 2017 and is filled with more than 1,500 servers. With a capacity of more than 7,000 servers, the second one debuted in 2019.

    Angola, Botswana, the DRC, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia are the seven African nations where Paratus has operational offices. The company also offers ICT network solutions, satellite connectivity, and infrastructure in more than 35 other African nations.

    OneWeb announced its plans to deploy hundreds of low-orbit satellites in 2019 that will offer Internet connectivity to everyone in the world and raised US$1.25 billion in finance, with the Government of Rwanda as one of the investors. Along with US stations in Alaska, Connecticut, and Florida, OneWeb maintains facilities in Kazakhstan, Norway, and Portugal.