Amid intensifying geopolitical tensions, South Africa should build its own ICT capabilities to lessen reliance on external providers.
This is in line with positioning SA to be a communications satellite operator in space, said Sentech acting CEO Tebogo Leshope.
Leshope, together with Sentech’s leadership, addressed the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies during their Gauteng oversight visit this week.
As part of its week-long oversight visit to Gauteng, the Parliamentary committee yesterday conducted an inspection of Sentech’s technology infrastructure at its offices in Honeydew.
Leshope shared a snapshot of the signal distributor’s five-year strategic direction, including expanding the scope of services to also provide broadband and other related services, strategic projects it is focusing on, as well as building satellite capabilities.
Satellite capability is notable among the agency’s key new areas, which the acting CEO said is a capability that Sentech is positioning itself to build and hold.
He noted the organisation believes SA is at risk of becoming vulnerable and may be manipulated from a commercial point of view, if it does not forge its own journey and own capability.
“ICT sovereignty and growth of the capability becomes a key focus area. We appreciate the committee's focus also on the satellite initiative.
“We do record that it is during this committee's period that the satellite strategy is getting endorsement, and we believe we should get going and push the satellite forward.”
As satellite technology evolves, plans for a South African-based satellite, with Sentech at the helm, have been touted for several years.
Other key role players that have been identified for the satellite project include the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), working in tandem with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) and the Department of Science and Innovation.
The idea, said former communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni in 2022, aims to enhance broadband connectivity reach.
South Africa’s broadband connectivity ambitions through satellite were also alluded to by another former communications minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.
During the AfricaCom 2017 conference, Ndabeni-Abrahams said the department was looking into satellite technology as a possible way to bring internet connectivity to all South Africans.
When considering long-term investment plans for SA's broadband rollout, satellite technology is a possibility to aid where terrestrial networks are unable to provide connectivity, Ndabeni-Abrahams noted at the time.
Neighbouring country Zimbabwe also reportedly has plans to launch its own satellite. In September 2021, reports surfaced that the Southern African nation’s first satellite, called ZimSat, was being assembled by the country’s engineers.
In Parliament, the portfolio committee on communications has also been advocating for the approval of the national satellite strategy, with a particular focus on communication satellites, according to committee chairperson Khusela Sangoni-Diko. “It is heartwarming to see progress in this regard.”
Taking the committee through Sentech’s strategic projects, acting COO Flenk Mnisi said the satellite initiative is key to the country’s future.
“With this project, we ensure we limit reliance, as well as capital outflow. As Sentech, we spend between R330 million to R350 million annually and it does not come back.
“It’s also about national sovereignty, making sure we develop [the satellite] ourselves and innovate without reliance on buying solutions offshore, but we grow those in-house or locally as a country.”
The initiative, as mandated by the DCDT, aims to address digital dividend challenges, allowing users to access communication services. “The work was done and the viability of developing and launching a satellite platform was positive.”
A business plan was developed, in parallel with the technical specifications of the satellite environment. “As a country, we have what we call national allotments, which are orbital slots and frequencies that we get allocated by the International Telecommunication Union, and we have never participated in that space.
“That is why most of our orbital assets are unusable, meaning the bigger players have encroached on our space.
“As Sentech, we worked quite closely with ICASA and successfully did an analysis that was followed by a filing which replaced the current orbital slots, to build a satellite that can do broadcast television distribution and covers our national boundaries.
“We worked with SANSA to develop the national communications satellite strategy. We’ve never had one; we do have a space strategy, but the country does not have a comms-SAT strategy.”
As to the project’s next steps, he said Sentech eagerly awaits necessary approvals from Cabinet.
“The market approach is very critical; we can’t go it alone. We have never done a project of this magnitude. The risks are dire and there are a lot of examples on the continent…where satellites in the sky have been lost and those nations had to reinvent the wheel.
“Following the approval of the market approach, we will then set up the mission.”
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