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ICT
SES is a major commercial satellite operator with more than 50 geostationary satellites across the world, ten of them over the spoke African continent. to African division head Laurent Petit, about the changing face of the continent’s broadband markets.
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atellite solutions seem like a natural fit for the unique status of the African broadband market, given that the technology is by nature an international one that requires little terrestrial infrastructure and local government involvement. Advances in manufacturing are ensuring that more launches are
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“We have a competitive edge over our fibre competitors as our broadband solutions can reach the areas where fibre is not rolled out yet
successful and the satellites that reach orbit are more efficient. At present, satellite communications are the only effective way to bring broadband to rural areas – microwave transmission and fibre cabling are only economical at short range and require expensive infrastructure investments. In particular, SES is finding that much of their business is now with
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inland customers. “We have a competitive edge over our fibre competitors as our broadband solutions can reach the areas where fibre is not rolled out yet, because at the moment fibre is officially limited to coastal countries rather than inland. Being able to bring broadband either using wide-beam satellites out of our geoconstellation or using what we call ‘fibre in the sky’ through the MEO constellation of O3b is vital. We are promoting these offerings because they are very efficient from a technical perspective and they are exceptionally economical.”
digital technology development. Competition is definitely higher than it was ten years ago. But we at SES are very well equipped to face it and serve our customers better than ever before.”
On the rise
Across Africa, the demand for broadband is increasing exponentially. “In general, we do have a lot of demand. Demand is unquestionably growing in Africa, with the development of the population and the growth of the middle class.” Even in the satellite services market, something of a feeding frenzy has been taking place. A huge increase in the number of households that own a television, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, has resulted in a huge increase in demand. Digital TV is set to take off in 2017 as well and replace the currently nearlyubiquitous analog models, with predictions suggesting that 54% of all households will have digital televisions by the end of the year.
“Competition is definitely higher than it was ten years ago. But we at SES are very well equipped to face it and serve our customers better than ever before. Recently, however, satellite operators are finding themselves facing strong competition from more conventional means of broadband delivery. “Over the last ten years, I’ve seen more companies and more operators taking the steps to enter the market in Africa.” Petit continues, “it’s becoming very crowded. There are a lot of opportunities in Africa, there are even more people who want to embrace
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This increase is disproportionately distributed, with Ghana, Guinea, South Africa and Nigeria as the primary nations developing their digital infrastructure, while many
other countries are deterred by the high costs of setup. The need for internet services has skyrocketed, particularly on demand Pay TV and international TV channels. Local broadcasters are also aiming to expand their coverage, as many are currently unable to broadcast to rural areas in their own countries, let alone other countries nearby. SES is aiming to cater to these commercial broadcasters. “I’m not just talking about governments,” says Petit passionately. “I’m talking about private individuals, organisations, who want to embrace the digital technology development. It makes it very interesting for companies like us to be in Africa, on the ground and working with them. “Having said this, competition is higher than ten years ago, there’s a development of fibre as well which has a significant bearing on satellite operators’ activities. We do use fibre and we complement our satellite services with fibre, but some projects may be done with fibre only as opposed to using satellite units as in the past, so the competitive landscape is tougher than it used to be ten years ago. We have invested in a fibre in the sky type of satellite constellation. The company is called O3b and offers high speed connectivity to all areas in Africa and in particular, the remote ones, at very economical rates.”
ICT
email: production@essentialbusinessmag.com
Widening reach
SES is one of the companies involved in Facebook’s ambitious Internet.org initiative, with plans to use their customised broadband platform to provide services across sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. Three of SES’ satellites- ASTRA 2G, ASTRA 3B and ASTRA 4A, will be tasked to deliver high speed broadband connectivity to the region, using a customised and tailored service suite to help Facebook deliver express Wi-Fi access. This service includes Gilat Satellite Networks X-Architecture platform and is the proven-tech backbone of the sometimes almost science fiction-like Internet.org project – a functional solution compared to the highendurance internet drones and
laser transmission proposed by the Connectivity Lab. Beyond that, SES is continuing to develop their technology and expand their reach, using their innate advantages to stay ahead of other terrestrial operators. The challenges for the company are twofold – solving the Last Mile problem (crossing the ‘last mile’ to actually deliver services into a consumer’s home), which comes in a variety of forms given the terrain and political situations across Africa, and ensuring that their services offer the same level of convenience and coverage while remaining competitive.
the continent’s digital revolution moves forward, Africans are requesting the same services as Europe and America. SES is ideally placed to meet that demand.
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Lack of access to broadband is well known to be holding back many communities. As
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SES Astra Africa The Pivot Block E 2nd Floor Monte Casino Boulevard Fourways, Johannesburg South Africa T: +27 (0)11 081 8200
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