Multinational telecommunications Group Orange, along with its subsidiary and Senegalese telecommunications solutions provider Sonatel, will partner with SES, a leader in global content connectivity solutions, to deploy and manage the first O3b mPOWER gateway in Africa.

The companies assert that this deployment, a first for the continent, will ensure easy access high-performance and low-latency connectivity services.

In a statement the companies announced that the gateway for O3b mPOWER, SES’s next-generation medium earth orbit (MEO) communications system, will be located at the Sonatel teleport in the Senegalese territory of Gandoul among other local satellites antennas.

SES will also use the gateway to support telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) functions for the O3b mPOWER fleet from an additional location and the first one in Africa.

The terabit-scale O3b mPOWER constellation and its automated, advanced ground infrastructure can dynamically deliver multiple gigabits-per-second beams of managed data services to customers.

Orange, Sonatel and SES intend to establish a memorial on site at the Gandoul gateway. It will highlight the history of satellite connectivity in Africa and the positive impact that advanced technologies and solutions such as O3b mPOWER can have on the continent.

“The Sonatel teleport is Senegal’s pride, as it was home of the very first 30-metre satellite dish to be installed in Africa ever," said Sekou Drame, CEO of Sonatel. "Not only has Senegal played a key role in developing the telecommunication industry in the African continent for the last 50 years, but we will also continue to lead in bringing new technologies to the market with the introduction of O3b mPOWER, a next-generation MEO satellite network.”

Jean-Luc Vuillemin, Executive Vice President, of Orange International Networks, added: “At Orange, we continue to believe that satellite remains a promising technology and that the many innovations it currently showcases will give it an increasingly growing position in the telecommunication field, in Africa as well as other countries that have more developed infrastructures such as Europe or North America. This is why we are particularly pleased of the consolidation of our partnership with SES which will add a major new component to Orange’s mission to build intelligent, open networks in order to foster usages and access to digital technologies for the greatest number of people.”

Steve Collar, CEO of SES, said, “In the last decade, we have connected communities and industries around the world with our O3b communication system, positively impacting their lives and their businesses. We have partnered with Orange to improve cellular backhaul and Internet connectivity for its African affiliates, and to enable enhanced operations for its enterprise customers. With the O3b mPOWER system launching in a few months, our customers are already looking forward to how they can expand their networks with much-increased throughput and enhanced flexibility. With a gateway located in Senegal, this new partnership will enable Sonatel and Orange to deliver more bandwidth more flexibly via O3b mPOWER to remote and underserved regions, helping ensure that everyone across Africa becomes truly connected with no one left behind.”

Previously, Orange and SES announced that Orange will be the first global telecom operator to integrate O3b mPOWER in its network to support the growing demand for connectivity in Africa, starting in the Central African Republic.