Despite the surge in uptake of fibre and fixed wireless access (FWA) services, satellite internet connectivity should not be discounted.
This was the sentiment shared by Rhys Morgan, regional vice president, EMEA media and networks sales at Intelsat, saying he believes the satellite industry has a “pretty rosy future”.
Intelsat is the operator of the world’s largest integrated satellite and terrestrial network.
With new entrants like SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network coming onto the scene and setting its sights on the African continent, there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding the satellite industry recently.
The Elon Musk brand of satellites aims to meet the ever-growing demand for broadband services, reaching those who are not yet connected with reliable and affordable broadband Internet services.
The expanded interest in the satellite sector is “very positive”, Intelsat’s Morgan told ITWeb on the sidelines of the 2022 Mobile World Congress last week.
According to him, a lot more people are interested in the satellite sector and what satellites can do for them.
“Obviously that’s to our benefit as well as to Elon Musk and others. I think Starlink will be very useful for certain applications and I think our technology, which is further away from the earth, will also be extremely useful – often in combination with Starlink.”
Morgan explained that the networks of the future will all be a mix of different technologies and types – very hybrid – whether that’s fibre, wireless, two-or-three different satellite technologies and others.
As a result, they [Intelsat] view new entrants in the market as complementary to the satellite industry.
Said Morgan: “We welcome new entrants; we think that it refreshes some of the interest and innovation in the sector; and we think there’s space for all of us. We think there’s a role for us all to play. I think we can do a lot to enhance the connectivity options for telcos and, therefore, their end-customers.”
With offices in Johannesburg, Nairobi, Dakar, as well as people on the ground in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Intelsat’s satellites provide services to media and network businesses across the African continent.
In South Africa, Intelsat counts DStv and Sentech as partners, and works with tier one telcos such as Vodacom, Orange, Airtel, MTN, etc.
He said: “We really view Africa as – it’s not one market clearly – one of the most dynamic regions for us because the pace of change is rapid in many countries, and you’ve also got some interesting innovations going on there.
In the DRC, for example, Intelsat provides a very broad range of services from international internet connectivity through to rural cellular coverage connections, he revealed.
“We have a partnership with Vodacom there [DRC] and as part of that deal, we’re connecting towers in very rural locations for Vodacom, and we are providing them with a managed service to connect those towers – that’s providing connectivity where there may have been none or patchy before.
“Ten years ago, we were providing internet connectivity into countries in Africa from Europe or from the US; we’re doing less of that now. What we tend to do more of is domestic connectivity.”
With the world slowly starting to see the tail-end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Morgan said the satellite company is feeling “pretty positive” about what it’s going to achieve in Africa this year.
“Digital transformation has been very quick and people are also looking for connectivity that may be outside of the city or maybe businesses want to put offices elsewhere because they’ve realised they don’t all have to be in Sandton, Cape Town or wherever – they want connectivity.
“We’re seeing lots of people asking for different types of connectivity solutions that they weren’t before. I think they’ve realised that mobility and being able to connect more frequently is of value to companies but also to individuals.”
Morgan is convinced that the future of connectivity services is hybrid.
Using the example of banks, he said they need to be able to access their central computer systems at all times. “You’ll notice that banks often times have a satellite link in case their terrestrial goes down. They have satellite which they’ll use but they know that if they’ve got three options, one of the three will always be working, and typically that’s the satellite.
“The sort of mission critical communications becomes important as well. I think as the cyber threats potentially start to augment as well, satellite provides another secure alternative in case some of the terrestrial links are down for whatever reason.”
He continued: “I think hybrid is the way forward, I don’t think you can rely on one means of communication, especially for things that are critical. We’re firm believers that it will be a combination of probably all three technologies [satellite, fibre and wireless] pretty much every time.
“There may be some unique circumstances where it’s one method but other than that it’s likely to be hybrid, especially as spaces are consuming more data.
“There’s a lot of dynamism, change in the market and a lot of innovation going on in the industry. It’s one of the exciting times to be in the satellite industry because the pace of change is so rapid.”
This, according to him, is clear indication that satellite is “absolutely not dying”.
“The new entrants and everything that’s going on serves to underline that. There’s a lot of money and a lot of people coming into the industry and that tells me that it’s got a pretty rosy future.
“I can’t tell exactly how it’s going to look, but I think we’re going to be a decent part of it,” he concluded.
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