The Special Role of Satellite in Connecting the Unconnected

a presentation to the Future-Sat Africa, Sheraton Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 4 October 2016

Kezias MWALE Radiocommunications Coordinator

k.mwale@atu-uat.org

www.atu-uat.org

October 2016 Slide 1 of 11

1. Satellite uniqueness and the particularly important in Africa

2. Case studies

3. Some challenges that remain

4. Change facilitators

5. Recommendations

6. Summary/conclusion

October 2016 Slide 2 of 11

1. Coverage of hard to cover areas such as deserts, seas,

lakes, mountainous areas, etc, where terrestrial

infrastructure is infeasible.

2. Lower coverage-cost ratio over terrestrial networks

October 2016

Source: DigiSat, 2014 Source: Avanti, 2016

Avanti’s ARTEMIS Coverage View from 21.5° East

Slide 3 of 11

1. Vast landmass and vast population distribution

renders Satellite connectivity as the only cost

effective way in some areas – Tokyo has the

population of the entire Zambia (yet Zambia is

344 times the size of Tokyo)

2. Limited/poor development of fixed connectivity

even in the medium term

3. Satellite connectivity is faster to deploy though

affordability remains a major drawback.

4. Independence from the hard-to-lay and

expensive terrestrial infrastructure

October 2016

Source: Avanti, 2016

Slide 4 of 11

iMlango in Kenya

1. 169 schools connected via Ka-band

2. 150,000 pupils connected (50,000 of which are marginalized girls)

3. 1679 teachers trained

4. Avanti is ready to replicate this success via their Every Child Online Project

UNSAF Project in Tanzania

1. 25 academic school (1 per the 25 regions

of Tanzania)

2. 75 teaching lab school per region

3. 150 administrative schools per region

October 2016 Slide 5 of 11

National Library Project in South Africa

High speed broadband to 222 national libraries across South Africa

Angola’s Media Library Network (ReMA)

Phase 1: 6 Media Libraries and 6 mobile Media Units

Phase 2: 6 Media Libraries by end 2016.

Phase 3: 13 Media Libraries and 12 mobile Media Units by end of 2017.

Number of visitors since opening in 2012 = 1,020,895

October 2016 Slide 6 of 11

Source: Avanti, 2016 Source: Mediatecas, 2016

1. Holistically poor investment climate

1.1 Legal (e.g. rule of law (the Zambian case), justice systems, licensing frameworks)

1.2 Corruption

1.3 Infrastructure (e.g. power, road…)

1.4 Market structures (e.g. regional single/common markets)

1.5 Financials (e.g. repatriation of profits, financing, stock markets)

1.6 Civil instabilities in some countries

1.7 Content – limiting the uptake of services

2. Consumer side challenges

2.1 Cost of satellite connectivity (gratifying that this is changing)

2.2 Low or no incomes – limits what can be spent on connectivity even when connectivity is key to improving incomes

3. Operator side challenges

3.1 Service outages – due to various technical issues some natural some not-so natural

October 2016 Slide 7 of 11

Spot beam / HTS

October 2016

1x

4x(1)

Source: SES, 2016

Dense-mess satellites

Low Earth Orbit Constellation

- Height 1200 km

- Planes 18

- Satellites 720+

- Gateways 500+ /50+sites

Slide 8 of 11

1. Satellite operators to continue to think-outside the box by devising ways to connect the

unconnected through win-win-win arrangements: e.g. the OneWeb’s connectivity

solution.

2. Countries ought to see connecting the unconnected (via satellite means or otherwise) as

investment for inclusive social-economic development of the communities and country

as a whole: ICTs are a key driver of social-economic development (e.g. the SA’s library

connectivity service).

3. Sensitization: there is need for a collaborative, robust sensitization on the value of ICTs

to the unconnected in order to captivate interest and placement of value on ICT

infrastructure (e.g. the case of Rascomstar in DRC).

October 2016 Slide 9 of 11

1. Satellite has a special role in connecting the unconnected in Africa for various

reasons

2. Case studies in Angola, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa are a good example of

connecting the unconnected yielding triple-wins (community, operator and

government)

3. Challenges remain notably cost of service: gratifying to note that this is been

address via competition and enhancements in technology (launch costs, dense-

mess satellite, beam satellite, HTS, …)

4. Triple-wins are a good way of connecting the unconnected

5. “the world must not rest until everyone is connected”

October 2016 Slide 100 of 11

thank you!

October 2016

Avanti’s ARTEMIS

Source: Avanti, 2016

Slide 111 of 11