While South Africans are still waiting for the deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, Vodacom is readying to connect Africans using Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites.
So says Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy, in an e-mail interview with ITWeb.
In September 2023, Vodafone and Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite communications initiative, announced a strategic collaboration through which Vodafone and Vodacom plan to use Project Kuiper’s network to extend the reach of 4G/5G services to more of their customers in Europe and Africa.
Project Kuiper is an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3 236 satellites in low Earth orbit. Its mission is to bring fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.
The name refers to the Kuiper Belt, a region of the solar system that exists beyond the eight major planets.
Project Kuiper competes with Elon Musk’s Starlink service, among others. SpaceX’s Starlink remains unavailable in South Africa, although it has gone live in several African countries.
Starlink’s delayed launch in South Africa stems largely from its unwillingness to meet the regulatory stipulation that major players, including multinationals, allocate at least 30% equity to black ownership.
Low Earth orbit is an area of space that extends up to 2 000km above Earth. Project Kuiper satellites will orbit between 590km and 630km.
Speedy satellite
“Our satellites’ proximity to the surface of the Earth means they can deliver fast service to customers, making Project Kuiper connectivity effective for uses like video calls, gaming and high-definition streaming,” says Amazon.
According to Business Research Insights, the global low Earth orbit satellite market was at $5.43 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $31.15 billion by 2033, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate of 21.4% during the forecast period from 2025 to 2033.
Vodafone and Vodacom plan to use Project Kuiper’s high-bandwidth, low-latency satellite network to bring the benefits of 4G/5G connectivity to areas that may otherwise be challenging and prohibitively expensive to serve via traditional fibre or microwave solutions.
Project Kuiper will connect geographically-dispersed cellular antennas back to the companies’ core telecom networks.
This means Vodafone and Vodacom will be able offer 4G/5G services in more locations without the time and expense of building out fibre-based or fixed wireless links back to the core networks.
Amazon launched its first two prototype satellites on 6 October 2023, and after achieving success with that mission, it expects to begin deploying its satellite constellation in 2025 and rolling out service later in the year.
“Vodacom and Vodafone remain committed in their ambition to potentially use Amazon’s Project Kuiper to extend the reach of their network coverage in Africa and Europe, respectively,” says Kennedy.
“Collaborating with Project Kuiper gives us an exciting new path to help us to improve our reach to more customers and currently unserved communities across the respective continents. It is envisaged that Vodacom, Vodafone and Project Kuiper would potentially begin deploying services in Africa and Europe when Amazon’s production satellites come online.”
Kennedy explains that while terrestrial services such as mobile networks remain superior in the quality of service that can be delivered compared to current satellite-based services, satellite-based services have the potential to supplement traditional terrestrial IMT networks to enhance connectivity to difficult-to-connect areas.
He adds that satellite connectivity offering fixed services has gained momentum in its adoption by South African consumers, businesses and financial institutions.
According to Kennedy, direct-to-device service remains an emerging technology and has not yet been deployed in South Africa and requires important regulatory clarification.
Overcoming obstacles
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) recently proposed a new licensing framework for satellite services in the country.
Commenting on the telecoms regulator’s proposed framework, Kennedy says: “We welcome the authority’s consultation in this regard, noting that satellite services have the potential to supplement mobile terrestrial services subject to appropriate regulatory terms and conditions.
“Notwithstanding, we remain concerned that some of ICASA’s proposals appear to not be adequately substantiated, and in some cases, appear to suggest a proposed approach that is not supported in law. We, therefore, encourage ICASA to revisit its proposed satellite licensing framework to incorporate corrective measures in line with our recommendations.”
Project Kuiper has three main parts: ground infrastructure, satellites and customer terminals. Amazon’s ground infrastructure includes gateway antennas that send and receive customer data to and from satellites, along with telemetry, tracking and control antennas that keep the satellites operating properly.
Global networking connects those gateway antennas to the internet, public cloud, or private networks.
Amazon explains that satellites make up the second part of the project. They operate in low Earth orbit and relay data traffic to and from the company’s gateway antennas and customers.
Lastly, customer terminals are the technology that Project Kuiper customers use to receive broadband service. The terminals combine antennas and processors into a single, compact system to deliver connectivity.
Project Kuiper’s ultra-compact model provides speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps). The standard model delivers up to 400Mbps, and the largest model, which is intended for enterprise, government and telecommunications applications, delivers up to 1 gigabit per second.
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