In The News

The why and how of HTS. On August 24 this year, Intelsat announced that Intelsat 33e, the second of seven planned Intelsat Epic high throughput satellites, was launched successfully from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Intelsat 33e, manufactured by Boeing, will bring high throughput capacity in both C- and Ku-band to the Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia regions. According to Africa Bandwidth Maps, Africa’s terrestrial network reached 732,662km in 2012. The fibre reach map clearly shows that most of Africa’s main urban hubs are now connected by fibre transmission

Satellite brings broadband to game reserve. In the more remote parts of the country, there is very little infrastructure, making it harder to provide ubiquitous broadband. Visitors to locations that are off the beaten track find that reliable Internet connections are not readily available. This can be a major inconvenience to tourists who are used to being connected 24/7, and can be a stumbling block to economic growth in these areas. Dr Dawie de Wet, CEO of Q-KON, a satellite Internet provider, explains that many of South Africa’s game lodges are located in isolated areas, where roug

Why satellite is ideal for African connectivity. Africa is known for its rugged beauty and diverse natural environments. The continent has also seen some of the highest economic growth in the world over the past few years. This has been despite a lack of existing infrastructure and is largely due to the low base Africa has been growing from, explains Dr Dawie de Wet, CEO of Q-KON, a specialist provider of satellite connectivity solutions. “Africa has enjoyed a steady growth rate upwards of 3% since 2008, with many international organisations investing in the continent. As a result of

What the loss of Falcon 9 and Amos 6 mean for African connectivity On September 1, 2016, international space exploration company SpaceX suffered a failure during the static test fire of the Falcon 9 rocket. Designed to transport satellites, Falcon 9 was scheduled to haul the AMOS-6 satellite into geostationary orbit. The rocket suffered an unspecified failure in the second stage's LOX tank during the test, and both rocket and satellite were destroyed. It takes pioneers and brave entrepreneurs to open new markets, to push new limits and reach new frontiers. These individuals are responsi

WhichVoIP launches VOIP phone comparison, with headline sponsor Q-KON SA and AudioCodes. Increased competition in a rapidly evolving industry, together with the availability of information on the public Internet, has influenced how consumers engage and interact with telecoms technology and the vendor community. By leveraging the Internet, customers are now able to become self-educated and make an informed decision on which product, and through which channel, they are able to acquire their chosen VOIP technology. Mitchell Barker, Founder and CEO of WhichVoIP in South Africa, the leading

VSAT as Packet Data Communications Medium For IoT And Specifically Industrial IoT (I2oT) The World Economic forum, in collaboration with key industry roleplayers, has compiled an interesting report "Intelligent Assets Unlocking the Circular Economy", which should be a must-read for all those interested in IoT. The key message in this report is summarized as follows: Instead of the linear "take - make - dispose" model, the dominant economic model of our time, we should harness the technology and apply the following principles: Preserve and enhance natural capital by controlling finite