Satellite operator Spacecom has announced a partnership with Cameroonian internet service provider Ringo, to provide affordable, stable and fast satellite-based broadband to 120 educational institutions, community centres and villages in rural Cameroon.

Spacecom, operator of the AMOS satellite fleet, yesterday announced that the AMOS-5 satellite is now providing Cameroon with Sub-Saharan Africa's first large-scale cellular-satellite hybrid broadband internet project.

The satellite operator partnered with local internet and mobile service provider Ringo for the roll-out of the hybrid services.

With the new solution, users take advantage of satellite for downloading data, uploading relies on cellular or other terrestrial data networks; resulting in what the partners promise is a stable and affordable means of broadband connectivity even in rural and underserved areas.

"With more citizens throughout Africa using internet services, especially those in outlying and rural areas, our successful project combining cellular and satellite represents a milestone for the continent. We are currently working to further develop this service in other African markets," said Sharon Weissman Burbea, Spacecom Vice President of Sales for French Speaking Africa.

"Providing affordable broadband internet service throughout all of Cameroon is bringing a new wave of activity benefiting the public and private sectors. Ringo is proud to be leading this effort and continuing to building the future of Cameroon," said Olivier Leloustre, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Ringo S.A.

Spacecom said the key to its hybrid solution for broadband is that it is based on satellite broadband downlink and GSM uplink, which enables low cost entry setup.

"A user sends a request to the cloud via a GSM modem and all the information is accessed from the satellite with a high throughput downlink," Spacecom explains.

The company said other benefits of the solution are that system installation is easy, and is largely the same irrespective of location, which is helpful for planning and budgeting.