In The News

When will Fibre replace Satellite? A perspective on the need for satellite networks for Africa. International CapacityIndeed, when considering that Africa has reached almost 6Tbps of international access bandwidth at the start of 2017, which is close to a 30% increase from the 4,5Tbps in 2015 the growth is indeed exponential. (Refer Hamilton Research, Africa Telecom Transmission Map) From this perspective it is understandable that fibre networks are becoming the preferred technology to provide primary international trunk services in a point-to-point service delivery configuration.Terrestri

Choose right: Managed Access or Broadband Service.

Why Satellite is Needed for IoT. … and why satellite connectivity will be needed. 20 Billion Internet-of-things devices by 2023 The IoT market in perspective According to the 2017 Growth Enabler market pulse report for IoT, IoT serves two distinct user groups: business and individuals. These two user-groups can then broadly be classified into nine segments as shown in the following diagram:  Internet-of-Things Market Overview Consumer Segment Use-cases are 1) Connected homes 2) Wearables 3) Connected cars and 4) Personal health. For consumers, the value proposit

What's Needed for Large-Scale Satellite Networks. The offline population is disproportionately female, rural, poor, illiterate and elderly. Of the 3.9 billion people that are still unconnected, 58% are female, roughly 60% are rural and at least half come from countries with a GNI/capita of less than US$ (PPP) 6,500. In addition, many spend far in excess of 5% on ICT access and services as a proportion of GNI/ capita, the affordability threshold set by the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. The success of the mobile market and the rapid adoption of the smart phone is of

Q-KON World-First to Deploy iDirect Regional Node Solution for Critical Primary and Backup Communication Network in Swaziland. Q-KON, a Specialist Service Provider and Systems Integrator, has successfully deployed a Satellite Regional Node Solution to provide critical primary and backup communication for a financial VSAT network in Swaziland. Q-KON partnered with VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a member of Vision Technologies Systems, Inc. (VT Systems), for the installation – a world first. Q-KON is a telecommunications system integrator and project house with almost 30 years’ experienc

Test case scenario of an EPIC satellite solution - New high capacity satellite solutions for the African market. The aim of EPIC, and other high throughput satellites (HTS), is to aggressively drive an increase in possible speeds while at the same time reducing effective service cost.  Tests done by the Q-KON engineering team obtained 5x higher uplink speeds (12Mbps) than the previous generation satellites (1,5Mbps) at an expected cost reduction of 50%.  This is a possible overall improvement of almost 10x, quite impressive by any standards of today’s technology enhancements.&n

3 Steps to Satellite Network Success The reason why network architects might not consider satellite as prime connectivity option might very well be because they have not had a good experience, or alternatively, might not be fully informed about the technology. Because satellite is a niche solution, it is also seldom included in mainstream discussions and even very influential industry events might not have satellite as part of the workshop topics to be discussed. Here are some guidelines around designing effective satellite network solutions and unlocking the business benefits of using

Satellite - Ideal for African Connectivity.

Satellite Internet quicker. As fibre Internet service becomes available in more places across Africa, fast broadband Internet is becoming a reality for many citizens. However, people who live in hard to reach or isolated places will never be able to experience these speeds. Or will they? Dr Dawie de Wet, CEO of Q-KON, a satellite Internet provider, says there is good news for rural and isolated communities. “Satellite Internet is quicker and more readily available than ever before.” “He says satellite Internet works in this type of location because it beams data to an orbiting

Satellite helps bridge digital divide in Africa. There are many remote regions in Africa where it is easy to feel isolated from the rest of the world. Broadband is scarce and Internet connections are not only rare, but notoriously unreliable. Africa is vast and very rural in many parts. The continent is not only massive in terms of land mass, but in the potential that it represents to businesses across all industries. Corporations from all over the globe are eyeing Africa as the next place where business is set to boom. However, making this potential a reality will require overcoming so