The global satellite industry has pledged to invest $20 billion to launch more than 20 satellites during the next five years.
This is in support of "Connect Africa", an initiative by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to connect more than one billion people to the Internet by 2012, the membership organisation says.
Global VSAT Forum chairman Jeremy Rose made this announcement at a media briefing at the ITU Telecoms Africa 2008, in Cairo, Egypt, this week.
He said the global satellite communications sector also plans to double the number of earth station terminals operating on the African continent by 2012.
Rose said the Global VSAT Forum would provide further details as to how the 20 satellites will be deployed in due course.
However, he notes that satellite operators that plan to bring new satellite capacity into service for Africa during the next five years include ABS, Arabsat, Eutelsat, Gascom, Intelsat, Measat, NigComSat, Nilesat, Rascom, SES Astra, SES New Skies, Telesat and Yahsat.
Yves Felted, media relations VP at New Skies, says it plans to launch two new satellites in Africa in the next couple of years.
The first one will be the hybrid NSS-12 satellite, scheduled for operation at the orbital position of 57^0 East by mid-2009, he said.
The NSS-12 will carry 40 x 36MHz equivalent C-Band and 48 x 36MHz equivalent Ku-band transponders and will serve as a replacement for the NSS-8 spacecraft that was destroyed on its launch pad in January, he said.
Raw deal
Rose complained that the Global VSAT Forum was treated unfairly by the ITU, despite the fact that the technology already provides connectivity across Africa. "We want to support this initiative," he said.
However, the satellite industry was slammed during the conference, with many people stating its broadband connectivity is too expensive.
This is not the case when a satellite/fibre hybrid is used to provide infrastructure connection, he said. The number of residential satellite users is also growing, indicating interest in the services continues to grow.
Regulatory capacity
The Global VSAT Forum will also offer free, online training to regulators and government authorities across Africa, to strengthen their ability to create an enabling environment for ICT to thrive, he said.
"Upon completion, government officials will be equipped with an understanding of how the satcom market is structured, the capabilities of the technology, and the implications for regulation, policy and e-government programmes," Rose said.
Connecting Africa can be achievable by 2012 with satellite-based solutions, said David Hartshorn, Global VSAT Forum general secretary.
Equally, government support in the form of liberalisation, harmonisation and adherence to sound spectrum management practices will be essential, he added.
Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, director of the ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau, commended the satellite industry for its commitment to provide connectivity. "This is the kind of competition which will bring down prices," he said.
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