Satellite is being factored into the business communications mix as commercial and industrial enterprises expand their operations into Africa and the Middle East, and increase their market exposure into Asia and Europe, says Roy Ingle, Regional Director, Africa, for satellite owner Europe*Star.
"There is increasing interest from corporates about how satellite can be used for communicating with branches and remote sites. While conventional telecommunications can often do the job, satellite offers superior video and audio quality more cost-effectively and reliably."
He adds that there is an erroneous impression that satellite is expensive, but ground equipment costs are steadily decreasing and the technology is reliable and far more cost effective than establishing terrestrial networks.
Ground equipment costs have come down 30% during the past three years, making satellite a cost-effective and easily affordable communication option. Signal compression and modulation techniques have drastically reduced bandwidth requirements, so the cost of satellite broadcast is constantly being reduced.
Satellite technology provides ideal new business opportunities to launch Africa into the global economy as it allows virtually instant service. This is not the case with terrestrial infrastructure, which requires the laying of cable.
"It enables cost-effective entry into remote sites and small pockets of rural communities with its wide beam footprint and eliminates the danger of service being halted due to theft of cables or vandalism of infrastructure," Ingle adds.
Increased convergence of technologies is leapfrogging telecommunications development in Africa. Mobile and satellite technologies are seen in developing countries as more reliable than cable-based networks.
Satellite is also the fastest, high-quality medium for Internet and intranet transmission. Current Internet bandwidth restrictions - a problem for Internet service providers battling to give businesses the volume of high-speed service needed to boost e-business opportunities - could be addressed if satellite was promoted as part of the mix.
Benefits of satellite include Internet Protocol (IP) multicasting and internet streaming, video on demand and digital TV broadcasting with huge potential for B2B opportunities in the VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) arena.
VSAT technology lends itself particularly to links with university lecture theatres for distance learning needs and to conference centres to reach regional audiences for special events, such as new product launches, management to staff communications, and annual results announcements.
Europe*Star is ideally placed to facilitate trade communications through Very Small Aperture Satellite (VSAT) applications within the business-to-business or business-to-consumer markets.
"Not only can we target small dish Africa-to-Africa connections, such as other operators in the region, but, being more powerful, with a steep angle elevation angle, we can be received with a smaller dish and uplink with a smaller dish."
The five areas covered by Europe*Star`s footprint - southern Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, Europe and the Middle East - are home to increased trade and cultural links - considerable degree of cultural and commercial interaction and co-operation, as well as being identified as important growth regions.
Ingle says that Europe*Star`s expertise in satellite communications has helped build bridges for companies operating under its footprint.
Europe*Star`s Occasional Use services includes recurring broadcasts which could be used for educational purposes or corporate communications, and regular 10-minute or longer, broadcasts at daily, weekly or monthly intervals, which could be used for regular company meetings with remote locations such as construction sites or mines.
Europe*Star believes its experience and focus on IP applications and new communication platforms, will make it the "contribution satellite of choice for the South African market".
Europe*Star 1 is the most powerful Ku-band satellite in southern Africa. This enables communications to be broadcast to small dishes in any of Europe*Star`s other footprints in a single hop. At 45 degrees east and in geo-stationary orbit 36,000km above the horn of Africa, it covers 76 countries in Europe, southern Africa, the Middle East, India and southeast Asia.
Europe*Star sells only bandwidth. It works closely with ground-segment operators such as network providers, teleports, Internet providers, national telecommunications bodies, and broadcasting services, to ensure the best solution is developed and delivered to customers.
Share
Europe*Star is a satellite owner-operator headquartered in London, with regional marketing offices in Cape Town, South Africa and New Delhi, India. Europe*Star operates its own mission control centre in Toulouse, France, for tracking, telemetry and control of the satellites. A joint venture between Alcatel Space of France and Loral Space & Communications of the USA, Europe*Star is a member of the Loral Global Alliance.
Europe*Star offers satellite capacity on its geostationary satellites; leasing whole and fractional transponders for full-time and occasional use requirements. Brought into service at the start of 2001, the innovative Europe*Star 1 satellite has five high-power beams covering Europe, southern Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia. Its Europe*Star B satellite provides additional capacity for markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
Europe*Star has operated in SA since January 2001 servicing voice, data and video broadcast requirements.
For more information, visit http://www.europestar.com.
Editorial contacts