The role of satellites in Africa’s digital transformation

Satellite operator SES recently launched the first two satellites in a new medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation. O3b mPOWER promises to meet the connectivity needs of a wide range of customers and in particular the growing demand for connectivity in Africa, as Caroline Kamaitha, vice-president, fixed data Africa, SES, explained.

ON 16 DECEMBER, satellite operator SES announced that the first two O3b mPOWER satellites had been successfully launched into space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in the United States.

Built by Boeing and designed to deliver unprecedented performance with its first-of-itskind software-driven payload, O3b mPOWER is SES’s second-generation medium earth orbit (MEO) system. Customers leveraging O3b mPOWER are, SES says, set to transform their operations.

The O3b mPOWER ecosystem enables SES to address current and future connectivity needs for governments, mobile network operators, energy companies, world-class cruises, and enterprises across the globe. This is underlined by the diversity of the customers who have already signed up for O3b mPOWER. They include Microsoft, Princess Cruises, Marlink, Jio Platforms, Orange, Claro Brasil and Vodafone Cook Islands.

We asked Caroline Kamaitha, vice-president, fixed data Africa, SES, to tell us more about the new satellites, and how they can benefit SES customers globally in general and its African customers in particular.

second-generation MEO constellation O3b mPOWER that just launched in December.

The O3b mPOWER communication system is based on the proven technology of O3b MEO that has positively shaped communities and business all around the world for over ten years now. Connectivity over MEO offers unrivalled high throughput, unmatched flexibility, constant low-latency and uncontended capacity that no other non-MEO constellation can offer. With these characteristics our customers can support a multitude of segments including government, fixed data, energy, cloud and mobility.

tailor their network to match their connectivity needs to dedicated cloud connectivity or adaptive traffic management, all designed to elevate the customer experience, improve users’ satisfaction, and reduce operational risk and complexity.

These, coupled with global redundancy provided by SES’s world-leading GEO and landbased infrastructure, mean we can satisfy the growing demands of our customers no matter where their geographical location is or their industry.

Communications Africa: Why MEO (as opposed to LEO or GEO?)

Caroline Kamaitha, vice-president, fixed data Africa, SES: While satellites in various orbits can provide connectivity, SES’s constellation operating in medium earth orbit (MEO) has an edge over LEO constellations.

SES’s O3b MEO constellation has been operational since 2013 and for the last ten years we have been seeing its positive impact on our customers and how it is shaping their lives for the better. Because of that, we decided to make the constellation more powerful and more flexible, and that is how we envisioned our

The O3b mPOWER system is designed to deliver unprecedented performance with firstof-its-kind software-driven payload. O3b mPOWER is SES’s second-generation medium earth orbit (MEO) system. It is easily scalable and comprises an initial 11 powerful satellites, each equipped with more than 5,000 digitally formed beams, and an extensive nextgeneration O3b mPOWER ground infrastructure. It enables SES to address current and future connectivity needs for governments, mobile network operators, energy companies, worldclass cruises, and enterprises across the globe.

Customers leveraging O3b mPOWER are set to transform their operations and benefit from terabit-level scale; the highest, most flexible, guaranteed throughput; roundtrip latency of less than 150 milliseconds; and unmatched service availability. It will also enable them to

Communications Africa: How can O3b mPOWER support MNOs with rural and remote coverage?

Caroline Kamaitha, SES: We’ve been present on the African market for over 30 years now and we have worked with many customers, including MNOs and telcos, to help shape their business and elevate it through connectivity. To name a few, in the Central African Republic, a service from O3b has enabled Orange to roll out 3G and 4G cellular services in ten cities. Orange was also able to provide better quality broadband services to businesses, boosting secured mobile data and payment services across the country.

In the last couple of years, our partnership with Orange led to the deployment of SES’s first

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