Satellite technology has an important role to play in Africa despite various undersea cables having come online, an expert says.
Nicolas Baravalle, vice president of sales Africa at SES says there is still a need for satellite services especially in places where there are no communication infrastructures.
“Satellites as a telecommunications infrastructure have developed the use of its core where the strength lies in the shift of using one point to multiple points because it costs the same to send content from point A to B or from A to a million points,” explains Baravalle.
Baravalle who was speaking at the Satcom2012 Africa conference in Johannesburg, didn’t shy away from admitting the power the emergence of terrestrial fibre has had on communication services.
“We have seen a revolution over the last two years through the emergence of fibre, where the satellite business on the continent has increasingly changed," he says.
“Fibre is coming, it’s a lot cheaper so when it comes to the cost, this is great because the costs of phone calls which would normally go via satellite are brought down for the end customer,” he adds.
Chris Ngwenyama, telecoms analyst at Africa Analysis agrees that satellites do hold value for Africa.
“Satellites would continue to provide backhaul connection in countries or areas without terrestrial fibre network infrastructure.”
Ngwenyama reiterates the special need for satellites in Africa, stating that it provides connectivity in those areas where volume of traffic would not justify fibre connection.
“As the market develops, satellites will take an important space in the world of direct to home television, serving millions of people at the same cost and broadband to the home is going to secure the future of satellites over the next three years,” Baravalle concludes.
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