There’s satellite, and then there are smart satellite services…

The regulatory approval achieved by Starlink in Mozambique and Nigeria is a positive development for our entire industry said Dawie de Wet, CEO of Q-KON.

The successful certification is the result of stringent network testing to ensure full compliance with all security and FNB network criteria.

McKinsey estimates it would cost $700 billion to $900 billion to bring true high band 5G connectivity to countries 25% of the global population.

Smart satellite systems like the Twoobii-on-Flex service operated by Intelsat are engineered to continue to deliver excellent signal strength even during heavy rainfall.

Satellites can help 5G networks achieve sub-1ms latency by multi-casting content to caches located at individual cells, says Q-KON Africa.

While the satellite industry will remain a niche environment best suited to be developed by specialist service providers, the industry is undergoing major developments, is increasing in performance and lowering cost says Q-KON.

The SpaceX StarLink service offers benefits to connect all "off-grid" users as well as providing a high-reliable, easy to deploy fibre-alternative service - it does build a compelling case that Africa can't ignore says Q-KON Group.

The Twoobii solution was also specifically engineered to support the implementation of IP telephony services using VoIP technology. Q-KON offers a brief outline of what is required to implement the solution.

If Twoobii was a country, it would rank #75 globally and #15 in bub-Saharan Africa as per the Cable.co.uk survey, at $3,50/GB, claims Q-KON.

South Africa's Internet penetration is three percentage points above the Southern African average, and one percentage point above the global average, according to Q-KON.

As an experienced "off-grid" solutions and services provider, Q-KON has the resources to offer highly specialised Managed Services as well as options for Broadband Services.

Twenty years after the Internet was first introduced, the quest continues to measure, understand and strengthen the impact of broadband services on every level of our society says Q-KON.

Dawie de Wet, CEO, Q-KON, sits down with iDirect and offers his perspective on the financial market in Africa, and becoming the first on the continent to launch a regional gateway network using iDirect's mesh solution.

In a world first, Q-KON successfully deployed a satellite Regional Node solution to provide critical primary and backup communication for a financial VSAT network in Swaziland.