Brexit and the future European Space Industry

Vol. 5 No. 11 May 2017

AFRICA

Zittnet,Zittnet, NNigeria’igeria'ss f ifirstrst ruralrural wwirelessireless I SISPP

Satellite as a critical infrastructures in Africa

Congo to invest billions NIGERIAon satellite to expand internet access Vol. 4No. 5

C O N T E N T S Vol. 2, No. 15

Building community network across Africa Editor in-chief Aliyu Bello Executive Manager Tonia Gerrald Zittnet, the story of Nigeria's first SA to the editor in-Chief Ngozi Okey rural wireless ISP Head, Application Services M. Yakubu Nigeriato spendsmillions on satellite for Editorial/ICT Services John Daniel air traffic management Usman Bello NIPOST to offer unique “last mile” Alozie Nwankwo connectivity to customers Juliet Nnamdi Client Relations Sunday Tache Congo to invest billions on satellite to expand internet access Lookman Bello Multipurpose telecentres in rural Cameroon Safiya Thani Recent output rises is growing VSAT sites Marketing Offy Pat Satellite still a critical infrastructure in Africa Tunde Nathaniel Wasiu Olatunde Nigeria's dependence on C band Media Relations Favour Madu highest in Africa - survey Khadijat Yakubu Is IPTV a pipe dream? Zacheous Felicia Why more Bollywood films are Finance Folarin Tunde marketed in English Sports programming driving pay TV growth in Africa Space Watch Magazine is a publication of Horizon 2020: Algeria on the move Communication Science, Inc. All correspondence should Brexit and the future of European Space Industry be addressed to editor, space Watch Magazine. Abuja office: Plot 2009, Awka Street, UTC Building, GF 11, Area 10, Garki, Abuja, Tel: 234 80336471114, 070264 70427, email: [email protected]

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E d i t o r i a l

Building community network across Africa Running UHD on DVB-S2X! Kerstin Roost, Public Relations Director at Newtec In the view of an IT commentator, the migration, the report predicts that than capacity-driven in rural regions. development of a region depends not more Africans will live in urban than in This means, project planners are only on the circulation of persons but rural regions by 2030. This constitutes more concerned with the area to also on the circulation of information. a real danger for the economy of cover than the capacity to provide. In a world that claims to be a global these countries. one, good information traffic is one of In case of wireless mesh network the most important concerns. Currently in Nigeria, more than 10 planning, the number of mesh terabytes of telecommunications routers is rather determined by the Addressing IMT’s pressure on aeronautical telecom services Because it enables the development capacity exists at the landing point, area to cover than the throughput of business models, the prevention of but the challenge is the deployment of required by a defined set of clients. d i s a s t e r s o r d i s e a s e s , t h e fiber infrastructure across the country implementation of new learning that will effectively distribute this The success of rural networks, such processes among others. But many capacity to the distribution nodes at as in Zambia, South-Africa or India, rural regions, sometimes also semi- the metropolitan areas of all regions in shows the role this type of network urban and even urban regions in the country that will supply sufficient can play in the development of rural Africa are still suffering from the lack fiber capacity to the backbone. communities. Although basic human of connectivity, and subsequently the needs are not completely satisfied in “digital divide” becomes more and these regions, access to information more apparent. Satellite has become an attractive enables education, medicare, o p t i o n f o r b u s i n e s s e s a n d participation in social and political As the map of the Internet World government offices that cannot processes, and so on. Stats can show, African Internet access other communications users represent only 7% of the world services, normally due to their remote Internet users in 2012 and 9.8% in or rural location. Wireless networks have 2014. “The Internet is becoming the overcome the long distances town square for the global village of In Cameroon some efforts have been between rural population and tomorrow”, but Africa is still made to reduce the urban-rural digital towns; distances that prevent neglecting. divide by the launch of the multipurpose community telecentres t h e m f r o m a c c e s s i n g e d u c a t i o n a l , m e d i c a l , Rural regions host the majority of the project for rural communities since population in Africa. According to UN, 2003. governmental or other services. the percentage of the African population living in these regions is Also, Ugandan Community Wireless A typical deployment consists of estimated to 60.1 per cent. This Resource Centres have had great linking a nearby city to a so-called represents a great market; and to achievements in its few years of kiosk located in a remote village. take advantage, new suitable and existence. The field of Wireless Usually, these kiosks or points of affordable services should be Networking is attracting more and interest host some basic services developed. more populace in Uganada, as like Internet access, health, call wireless networks are becoming Moreover, the emerging policy of services or others. Although the some African developing countries increasingly popular and rumours of results of this prior kiosk model essentially relies on agriculture that is resourceful training at CWRC is mostly done in rural regions. spreading around the university. have been acceptable, the Therefore, a greater percentage of increase of user connectivity the rural population constitutes also In Nigeria, Fantsuam Foundation has demand and the opportunity to an important workforce for reaching become the first rural wireless ISP develop new business models in the emerging goals of reducing and now recognized leader in the order to bridge the digital divide poverty to socially acceptable levels provision of rural development requires more than just a kiosk and of becoming a middle-income initiatives, and the foremost and model. The aim is therefore to country. thriving rural knowledge economy spread this signal in a rural region driver in Nigeria. The wireless ISP of rather than just providing The rural exodus however could Fantsuam Foundation is called as connectivity to a point of interest seriously hinder such a program. A Zittnet, meaning “our network” in the report from UN-Habitat states that 14 Fantsuam language. in a locality. According to this, million people in Sub-Saharan Africa However, according to African IT some rural networks based on migrate from rural to urban regions experts, the planning of these wireless mesh network (WMN) every year. Considering this networks is usually coverage rather have been already set-up. Zittnet, the story of Nigeria's first rural wireless ISP

Not-for-profit internet connectivity! “Can this really work? While the business of Internet connectivity in Africa is still in the hands of private companies, in Nigeria, Zittnet, a not-for-profit wireless Internet Service Provider have emerged from a local initiative in a rural community to provide shared connectivity for cyber café, hospitals and commercial banks in Kafanchan town.

One might ask, “Is there really a Fantsuam language. connection in Kafanchan, which demand for Internet services in a belonged to Fantsuam Foundation place like Kafanchan”? Kafanchan is a Before venturing into internet and had a monthly bandwidth rural community of approximately services, Fantsuam Foundation has subscription cost of 1,250 USD. 83,000 people, located 200 km north- been working together with the In this community, fixed telephony east of Abuja in central Nigeria. community of Kafanchan since 1996 (PSTN) is no longer available and Though the town used to be known for to fight poverty and disadvantage GSM coverage has just begin to its busy and thriving busines through integrated development improve in terms of the quality of the activities, it best known as the site of programs. Fantsuam's focus lies on service. Further challenging the one of the main junctions of the micro finance, ICT services and social people of Kafanchan is the access to national railway, Kafanchan is a poorly development in rural communities in electricity. Kafanchan receives an connected area in terms of fixed Nigeria. average of 3 hours per day of power telephony and Internet connectivity. from electricity organization. Despite In order to run an effective t h i s c h a l l e n g e s , F a n t s u a m Well, despite its size, Kafanchan organization, Fantsuam Foundation Foundation got the idea and came up hosts no fewer than five tertiary relies heavily on national and with the plan of establishing a rural educational institutions and a campus international volunteers. The national wireless ISP in the community. of Kaduna State University. volunteers are typically youths who Additionally, there are several small have completed training at Fantsuam. A frontline Nigerian medical doctor and medium sized businesses in the The subsidized training provided for Chris Azukaeme, a man in his fifties, area, as well as a Government the volunteers comes with the has been running his own health clinic hospital and a secondary-level expectation that they will serve the for more than a decade in Kafanchan, referral hospital. Kafanchan is a well- organization for a period of time after with special focus on nutrition and known trading center, which implies their training. However, the high supplements. Not long ago, that communication is important to quality training they are given often computers and the Internet were enable people to be at the right place makes them eligible for urban-based, unknown areas to Dr Chris, who, like at the right time. On top of that, the better paid jobs. Therefore the most people in his generation, did not now compulsory online registration for reliance of ZittNet on volunteers get the opportunity to work with secondary school WAEC and NECO means that the work force tends to be computers during his studies. Despite exams has also increased the transient. his limited practical experience with demand of Internet access among the computers, Dr Chris understood their population. For instance, less than 20% of the original workforce that started this powers and what access to the Internet could do for him. He told us Today, Fantsuam Foundation, named wireless project two years ago, is still how he started using the Internet a few after its host community, the working in Fantsuam. The lack of years ago at local Internet cafés and Fantsuam people, an ethnic and stability and continuity in Zittnet's staff often he needed to go to Jos, at least linguistic group comprising of a few composition adversely affects the an hour drive away, until the first thousand inhabitants delivered a daily operations of the project and its Internet café opened up in Kafanchan wireless ISP to its host community future plans in 2003. improving connectivity to Kafanchan and her environs. It called the ISP At the inception of the project, there Zittnet, meaning “our network” in the was only one satellite Internet Now Dr Chris is one of the most frequent clients that Zittnet has. He and design - Mesh or star? clients are spread out in all directions, is using the Internet to search for 360 degrees around Fantsuam's medical information and new drugs premises and at a distance between 0-20 that can be useful for his clinic. He is Kafanchan is a typical African rural km. Although a mesh network is a also active in an international town, densely populated by one-story technologically attractive way to build network of medical doctors where buildings with flat tin roofs. Quite a few wireless networks, both in terms of low ideas are exchanged and new communications masts are present, complexity since the access points can trends are discussed. there are new ones belong to GSM have a default pre-configuration, and low operators that arrived recently, and the cost (no towers should ideally be To have Internet in your own house old decaying ones, no longer in use, needed), many environments, like makes you so efficient, Dr Chris belonging to various state institutions. Kafanchan, require a more centralized says. “I can wake up at 3 am in the Apart from the towers of a number of wireless network that uses one or more morning with an idea, and in a few wealthy new-generation Pentecostal communication masts or other high minutes am online and can look for churches, there is no tall infrastructure points to interconnect the different the information I need”. When we in town. Instead there are plenty of network segments. ask him a common provocative heavy obstacles blocking radio question that we received, “Why signals, in the shape of mango trees. should we bring Internet to the rural Network architecture and areas, when the people do not even One might think that with these hardware have clean water and access to conditions, the ideal wireless topology The wireless backbone was initially education?”, his eyes shine. would be to build a mesh network. The designed to use SmartBridges multi- mesh would allow every node to band access point and client units from “But of course, we need Internet communicate with any other node, and the Nexus PRO Total series. The units are here in Kafanchan! Naturally, the not be dependent on a costly central designed for service providers and basic needs must be covered, but point in the form of a tower. That e n t e r p r i s e s t o e s t a b l i s h h i g h then we need to catch up with the solution would work if it were not for the performance Point-to-Multipoint outdoor rest of the world. Access to Internet low density of clients in Kafanchan and wireless links. The units come with an is access to information, and that is their geographical distribution. integrated multi-band sectoral antenna the key to prosperity and that can operate both in 2.4GHz and 5.x development.” Currently Zittnet It is a fact that Internet access is still a GHz frequencies. The Nexus PRO Total has five fixed clients with wireless luxury in this part of the world. In series offers QoS in terms of traffic installations on their premises. Kafanchan, there might be a handful of p r i o r i t i z a t i o n a n d b a n d w i d t h Each client pays a monthly fee to individuals who can afford Internet management per client using the IEEE Zittnet for the bandwidth and the access in their homes for personal use. 802.11e compliant WMM equipment they rent. If we include small and medium-sized (WiFi Multimedia) extensions. organizations, we can probably gather While health care institutions now around 20-30 potential clients. The Currently, the network topology is a depend on Zittnet connectivity, a typical geographical distribution of typical star topology with two access new cybercafés in town, presently housing in traditional towns also points in the central mast. One access running about 10 computers that creates a disadvantage for a mesh. point hosts a 90 degree sectoral antenna are frequently occupied by people There are normally no “residential” and the other access point provides an of all ages. The killer-applications areas or “business centres” in a small omnidirectional coverage to the among their clients are web-based town. surrounding clients. Plans are underway university registration processes, to expand the wireless backbone by and downloading of ring tones and Most petty businesses are gathered setting up two wireless repeaters. One mp3 files. They are happy to nicely along the main road leading repeater would be located in Kafanchan conclude that Zittnet is “faster” than through the town, but unfortunately, city using an existing Nitel41 tower to the competing cybercafé in town, they are not potential clients for a enhance the wireless coverage in the city as “speed” is an important factor for wireless network. Larger businesses centre. The second repeater would be their clients. “The customers are few and spread around the town. established in the Kagoro Hills, a small choose the cybercafé with the Private houses are mixed, rich and mountain group with a relative altitude to greatest speed as they prefer to pay poor together, as people tend to stay in Kafanchan of about 500m, located 7 km a bit extra but to get things done, the same place that they grew up or away. This would provide coverage to than to pay less and don't get where their family has land. If you get many surrounding towns and even anything done.”They are now wealthy despite all odds you either enable a multi-hop long-distance link to pleased that Zittnet has changed its move to a larger city or you upgrade Abuja. business model to a flat fee per your current house. month for a guaranteed bandwidth. In the actual “centre” of a town, where Although this implies a larger risk the density of houses is highest, you The NOC, dust-free and cool for the owners, they still prefer this will mainly find homes belonging to In collaboration with Linus Nok42, a local model, as the voucher system did people with low incomes, which makes architect from Jos, a new Network not really fit them nor their clients. the city centre again a non prioritized Operating Center was designed and area for wireless coverage. constructed in 2007. The building was Wireless, infrastructure designed with the purpose of creating a In the case of Kafanchan, potential dust-safe space, made of locally available materials, with good extra load of 150-200 kg that the period), the power obtained from the cooling capabilities for batteries and panels weigh. grid is enough to power the 25 low inverters using natural methods. power workstations at Fantsuam, Another requirement was to host the A hybrid power backup the indoor and outdoor low power solar panels on the rooftop, in order system, providing lights, fans and ACs, the kitchen and to save valuable space on the the two street lights. When the heavy compound premises. electricity 24/7 r a i n s c o m e s i n A p r i l , t h e In August 2007, the week of the performance of the national grid inauguration of Zittnet, the NOC The unreliable power grid of Nigeria drops drastically, and support from s t o o d r e a d y. T h e b u i l d i n g delivers around 3h of unserviceable the diesel generator is needed. accommodates four rooms: a battery power to Kafanchan. In 2007, a hybrid storage room, a server room, a power backup system consisting of a Changing your mindset working space and an equipment deep-cycle battery bank and solar In order to stay within the limits of storage area. The battery storage panels was designed and installed at what the power backup system can room hosts 70 (200 Ah) deep cycle Fantsuam. The hybrid system can be provide, Fantsuam Foundation batteries together with 5 charge charged from different sources such made major changes in their own inverters (one of them pure sine as public sector power supply when organization. The first measure was wave), two solar regulators, power electricity is available, from solar to get rid of all old computers stabilizers and DC and AC panels during the day, and from the donated from various sources. disconnects. The batteries are generator when no other source of These computers were sold to stacked vertically on a metal-based power is available. It uses a bank of community members for a symbolic shelf structure for better cooling. To 24 V, 70 deep cycle batteries to store price. improve cooling, an extractor was the electricity. installed to push out warm air. The old computers were replaced To ensure maximal reliability to the with 20 low-power PCs with screens The server space accommodates a critical infrastructure of Zittnet, the from Inveneo, consuming a fraction rack unit for low power Inveneo Network Operations Centre (NOC) of what the old ones used to. Another servers. To avoid dust and over has been separated from the rest of measure taken by Fantsuam was the heating, the room has no regular big the loads at the compound, including i n t r o d u c t i o n o f t h e “ p o w e r windows. Instead, the room is being Fantsuam's own computers. In that guardians”. Staff from the Zittnet cool through the use of small way, the system can guarantee a t e a m r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e rectangular windows located by the certain amount of electricity to the maintenance of the power backup floor and by the ceiling. The small NOC, and the NOC can guarantee system took on the responsibility of windows provide a natural circulation service to all its clients, even though educating the rest of the team how to of air from bottom to top which cools other battery banks are running low reduce the use of power in their daily down the room. With this zero-power on power. work. cooling technology in place, no power thirsty AC is needed. Additionally, a separation in terms of Zittnet Challenges power sources has been made to To further improve the cooling of the According to Zittnet manager, further ensure reliability to the NOC. NOC, the server room and the sourcing of wireless equipment has The NOC runs solely from solar battery storage room has been not been such a hassle, since energy, while the remaining loads are equipped with thick walls of bricks. Nigeria is a large trading nation, due fed from electricity distribution By having thicker walls in the server to its location by the Atlantic coast in company and the generator. room and the battery storage room, it the Gulf of Guinea. Several well- This has proven to work well, as the avoid direct sun heat and improve the known wireless brands can be found power consumption of the NOC is natural cooling effects. The server in Lagos for a reasonable price. fairly constant and the lowest amount room and the battery space require What was more difficult to source of solar energy per day is predictable effective low cost/low energy cooling was equipment for the power backup as well. The solar arrays are as they need to operate 24/7. The system. The solar panels and the dimensioned according to the worst- work space is equipped with four inverters were not locally available case sunlight scenario for Kaduna, Inveneo low-power computers, and had to be imported from the US. which is 4 sun peak hours during the managed by the Zittnet team. In addition to shipping costs, the worst months, the June-August rainy Nigerian customs clearance at the season. The south side of the building hosts entry ports caused delays and 24 solar panels in a shadow-free introduced demurrage costs and Each of the solar panels that are used area at the top its metal roof. The roof time delays into the project. provides a maximum current of 5A was designed with an inclination of when the solar radiation is at its Although there is a ready market and 20 degrees to support the panels and highest during the day. In the worst a high demand for the wireless limit the corrosion and dust. Extra months of the year, the 24 V services offered by Zittnet, it has efforts were made to keep the panels installation is expected to produce no been difficult to expand the client easily reachable for cleaning and less than 6 Kwh/day. base. Due to the outskirts location of maintenance. The roof has also been Fantsuam's headquarters and strengthened in order to carry the During good conditions (not the rainy central tower, and the lack of robust Nigeria to spends millions on satellite for air traffic management infrastructure taller than two meters, only a fraction of the potential client Air transport plays a major role in country, the Nigerian Air Space base can be covered today. To cover driving sustainable economic and Management Agency (NAMA) and greater areas, the backbone needs to social development in hundreds of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency be expanded, which is expensive (NIMET) oversee the air traffic nations. Since the mid-1970s, air because communication masts are m a n a g e m e n t a n d w e a t h e r needed. traffic growth has consistently defied i n f o r m a t i o n m a n a g e m e n t , As an alternative to procuring costly economic recessionary cycles, respectively. masts, Fantsuam has tried to arrange expanding two-fold once every 15 Both agencies use VSAT networks for agreements with local partners for co- years. In 2012, air transport directly air navigation management services hosting. Kafanchan hosts many old and indirectly supported the communication towers from its in Nigeria, as terrestrial network booming days in the eighties that are employment of 56.6 million people, deployment for managing such no longer in use but remain in pretty contributing over $2 trillion to global networks are both challenging and good shape. Just after the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and not reliable as there are frequent fiber inauguration of Zittnet, Fantsuam carried over 2.5 billion passengers cuts and network outages. made a formal request to host their radio equipment in a tower belonging and $5.3 trillion worth of cargo. According to the regional service to Nigerian Telecommunications provider ATNS, C-band is the Limited, for which they still are The safety of air operation is preferred band for ATM services and awaiting a decision. dependent on the availability of meteorology data dissemination due A t t e m p t s t o h o s t b a c k b o n e r e l i a b l e c o m m u n i c a ti o n a n d to the wide footprint of C-band over navigation services. Current and infrastructure on potential partners' all of Africa. This ensures seamless future communication, navigation premises has only been investigated. communication and single-hop voice a n d s u r v e i l l a n c e / a i r t r a f f i c One of the tallest buildings in communication, which is critical for Kafanchan is the School of Nursing, management (CNS/ATM) provisions are highly dependent upon sufficient air traffic management. In addition, which is hosted in a three storey rain fade, which make the use of building in the central part of availability of radio frequency spectrum that can support the high higher frequency bands such as Ku- Kafanchan. The rooftop is flat, does band for air traffic management too not host any other equipment and is in integrity and availability requirements unreliable. very good condition. The School of associated with aeronautical safety Nursing, 2 Km in direct line of sight systems, and demand special from Fantsuam's central tower, is a conditions to avoid harmful According to Euroconsult report, perfect location for a central repeater interference to these systems some of the identified C-band VSAT networks in Nigeria include the that could provide coverage to a large The continuous increase in air traffic part of the population in Kafanchan. movements as well as the additional NAMA installed a VSAT backbone requirement for accommodating new infrastructure to carry VHF voice, During the last few years, Fantsuam and emerging applications such as p a r t i c u l a r l y , t h e a i r t o Foundation has spent lots of time and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) is ground/controller to pilot), ATS DS effort to find an affordable and reliable placing increased demand on both (ground to ground/controller to upstream provider. Since 2006, they the aviation regulatory and air traffic controller, AFTN, radar data, video have tried three different providers, management mechanisms. and Internet at eight airports and one with three completely different non-airport location in 2010. This business models. They have finally AIn Nigeria, the growth in both network should at least have 20 C- found one that they are comfortable domestic and international passenger band sites for both TRACON, of about with. Each provider has implied traffic had been around 20% per year. different challenges, but one common 10 sites and AIS automation projects Nigeria is positioning itself to take 10 sites. nominator has been the lack of a advantage of both its substantial 150 suitable business model for a small or There are other eight C-band sites m i l l i o n p o p u l a t i o n a n d i t s deployed under the Satellite medium-sized organization located in advantageous location at the center a developing nation. Distribution System for Information of Africa to promote the state as an air Relating to Air Navigation (SADIS) An organization like Fantsuam transport hub for West and Central network at the airports. These sites Foundation does not have easy Africa. For this, the country is working are for providing aeronautical access to credit cards, they cannot on new projects in Lagos and Abuja meteorological information for the make costly international phone calls through public private partnerships safety of flight operations. Based on to get support, and they cannot pay (PPP), so that new routes to Europe, repor ted deployments, it is thousands of dollars upfront in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the estimated the number of air traffic hardware investments and advance Americas will fuel future growth108. management and meteorology data payments for bandwidth. While the Nigerian Civil Aviation sites to stand at around 30 VSATs in Authority (NCAA) is the regulatory Nigeria. body for aviation activities in the Nigeria NIPOST to offer unique “last mile” connectivity to customers

The Nigerian Postal Service, NIPOST is set to provide banking and financial transaction services to cater to the needs of the rural population and help realise the goal of financial inclusion for the “un-banked” rural masses receiving fees for service rendered to the banks and other financial entities. However, the challenge of adequate infrastructure and connectivity coupled with application of appropriate software is currently slowing down the scheme.

For over a century, the Nigerian post scattered rural communities. banking and postal networks to make offices, NIPOST, once remembered a seamless network of financial as most visible and popular face of Technology has, for better or worse, products and services. As the the nation's culture especially when undeniably brought about a change, economy interlinks and networks the postman was the only person hitherto unimagined, in our life styles. expand, it will be those entities that delivering mail and money orders The transformation brought about by most efficiently transform, integrate personally at the doorstep of the technology in the area of delivery of and adopt the business models in people is presently gearing up to play financial services has, thankfully, only such a way that economy and more comprehensive role by been for the better. majority of people gets benefited. reorienting itself to meet the expectations of future generations. According to a report, providing these Recent reports for BRIC countries services to developing world is a reveal that the integration of the offer NIPOST pride itself as one of the difficult task. Traditional postal money of financial services at some stage biggest distribution channels in o r d e r s a r e o v e r w h e l m i n g l y appears to be decisive if a Post is to Nigeria with thousands post offices, inconvenient with no flexibility to play a leading role in access to especially in the rural communities customers. The remittance of money finance in its country while with immense potential for the order at present requires the person simultaneously securing its future distribution of all kinds of products, to visit the branch and fill money order economic viability. A vast untapped including financial and money form and then it is sent to the market of almost two billion unbanked remittances. destination address either through customers 1.1 billion of which already physical delivery of money order being users of non account-based Up till this day, it is still the oldest and forms or in the electronic form like e- postal financial services seems prime source of money transfer for MO (electronic money order or i-MO available for the post if it is ready and the city dwellers wanting to transfer (Instant money order) buy utilizing the determined to seize the opportunities. pocket money to families back home email and internet or other electronic These ambitions have much better serving as a source of financial media. prospects though if they are closely stability to numerous homes. linked to financial inclusion policies at the government, central bank or Unlike traditional banks, whose high As the world moves towards a global financial regulatory authority level. operational costs excludes non- economy, African countries need profitable customers from the lower cannot be left behind in the provision NIPOST as its fondly called began strata of society, NIPOST agents had of fast and prompt money remittances using IT with stand alone PCs and has a pre-existing relationship with local for creating efficient markets and recently migrated to Local Area communities, allowing them to reach sustainable economic relationships. Network (LAN) connectivity. Today, out to the rural population. Posts Dealing with expanded realms of out of a 1000 post offices, several could be especially attractive opportunity, the most successful p o s t a l o ff i c e s h a v e b e e n partners for banks, as they offered a financial activities will be those that computerized and less than half of trustworthy and extensive network find ways to best leverage cost this figure have been networked that was directly accessible to effective technologies to harness the through leased line based on the Congo to invest billions national broadband plan to enable Postal agencies offer services like on satellite to expand internet access electronic Money Order, e-payment and instant Money Order and it has plans to computerize and network all After Democratic Republic of Congo, regional service providers like Sky Vision, DRC ink her billion dollars procurement Hughes, Gilat, Bentley Walker, EMC, i-Sat its post offices in the coming years. deal with the China Aerospace & Africa, i-Way Africa and Harris CapRock, Technology Corporation (CASC) and as well as some European teleport Accordingly, a strong IT base will China Telecom to place the country's first providers like CETel, Onlime and Global make it possible for NIPOST to offer a satellite, CongoSat-01, into orbit, it TT, are also present in the country. In range of e-enabled services to became the second African country in addition, a specialized company, customers such as: Africa after Nigeria to sign a satellite Teleconsult, is in charge of managing the delivery contract with China. According to terrestrial network for TV transmission. DRC officials, part of the payload on the Instant Money Order future satellite will be in the C-band, with VSAT networks are deployed in a number An on line web based domestic the satellite also having Ku-band and Ka- of universities of DRC, with the support of money transmission service that band capacity onboard. The project has the UniveriTIC program. This program, enables customer to receive money offered a renewed importance to backed by the Commission Universitaire in minutes from any of the post offices Renatelsat, a state agency historically in pour le Developpement (CUD) of providing this service. Under this charge of providing satellite connectivity Belgium, aims at providing connectivity to service, a person can send amount and video transmission solutions in the seven universities in DRC. VSATs are country. currently in service in campuses of from N 1,000/- up to N.500, 000/- in UNIKIS, UCB, ISTA, UPN, UNIKIN, one transaction instantly. Presently, DRC lacks terrestrial backbone UNILU and UCC. networks in the largest part of the country, eMoney Order so satellite remains a primary option to in 2009, India began a Pan-African e- connect a large part of mobile networks The electronic money order facilitates Network project, that aims to connect and at least a backup network in other Indian institutions to 53 countries in Africa transmission of ordinary money areas. through satellite and fiber links to provide orders through electronic media tele-education and tele-medicine without any extra charge. In addition, the political instability since services. The network is designed to have the mid-1990s has deterred development 169 C-band VSAT terminals, including E-Payment in the DRC, and as a result, the national three VSAT terminals in each country, one telecom system is one of the least for Tele-education, one for Tele-medicine E-Payment is a 'Many to One' service developed in the region. Rural areas, and one for Heads of State. The Tele- through which bills (telephone, where almost 70% of the population education services will be provided from electricity, municipal dues, taxes etc.) resides, are still virtually devoid of seven reputed universities in India and are paid by customers in Post offices telephone or Internet services. Satellite five leading regional universities in Africa. which are then electronically communication plays a major role in the The Tele-medicine program for specialist consolidated and paid to the service communication sector given that the healthcare services to African countries provider. country is landlocked and fiber will be provided through 12 Super connectivity is only progressively rolled Specialty Hospitals in India and five Super out. The key economic growth sectors like According to the report, like the Specialty Hospitals in Africa. The website mining, oil and gas, telecommunication, of the program states that one learning banks, the postal systems needs to and banking utilize VSAT as a key center (LC) and one patient end hospital harnesses the rapid IT and telecom communication channel for applications (PE) in DRC are currently integrated in the capacity expansion to deliver three including backhaul, remote and backup network. basic, integrated products to users of connectivity. Many of these networks rely its services, such as a savings on C-band for primary or back-up In 2010, the company SATTEL account hosted on a lightweight connectivity, as they demand much International installed a network of 29 banking platform, a broad based greater reliability than rain fade would V S ATs f o r t h e M i n i s t è r e d e payments network, and a competitive allow in other frequency bands. l'enseignement primaire, secondaire et mechanism to deliver microloans to professionnel (EPSP—Ministry of The supply and use of C-band-related Education) to connect 29 “educational the poor. services currently involves a large provinces” out of the 30 existing number of organizations in DRC. The “educational provinces” defined in the As per the reforms towards government has issued VSAT licenses to country. These are spread across the 11 computerization and networking of all over a dozen private players. The telecom DRC provinces171. The Minister stated in the post officers spread across the regulator ARPTC's recent decision to limit 2011 during the inauguration of the country, it gives the opportunities for the number of VSAT licenses to only three network that it would both improve the banks, financial institutions to utilize players—Vodacom, Cybernet and governance of EPSP and improve the the existing setup and resources of Ragasat—was later overturned by the quality and relevance of teaching. The Ministry of Communication. The ministry post offices spread across the country new Intranet would allow for continuous stated that it would be unfair to other training of teachers and other employees to integrate the money remittance players in the market. The other major of the ministry, and the distribution of through cost effective means of domestic players in the market include teaching material172. Although the technology. Microcom, Celtel Congo, SATTEL frequency band associated with the International, Afrinet, Cielux, Global network, the spread of sites and use Broadband Solutions, Paconet and I- suggest the use of C-band. burst. In addition to this, global and African Report

Multipurpose telecentres in rural Cameroon

The development of a nation depends not only on the circulation of persons but also on the circulation of information. In a global community, good information traffic is one of the most important concerns as it enables the development of businesses, prevention of disasters or diseases, implementation of new learning processes... In many rural regions, governments are scaling up connectivity to promote socio- economic development, while also reversing “digital divide” that has becomes more apparent in the last decades. In Cameroon, the national strategies to reduce the digital divide have began in rural regions.

For many rural and sub urban should also be a support to all As in most African countries, a dwellers in Cameroon, the reason activities and projects of the area. national institution managed why people do not access the Internet Other services like postal services, exclusively the telecommunication is not the costs but rather the lack of money transfer, telemedicine and services in Cameroon before the 90s. knowledge about the benefits of using distance learning may also be part of But in 1995 the process of the Internet. Therefore, the creating a the services offered by MCT. restructuring the telecommunication local market goes via information and sector really started with the sensitising of the population about the The initial goal when launching privatisation of public and semi-public benefits of ICT and the Internet in their multipurpose telecenters in 2003 was enterprises. The first law governing daily live. to create 2000 MCTs by 2015 but only telecommunications in Cameroon 170 MCTs are deployed throughout was promulgated in 1998. Two public the country in December 2014. Most enterprises were set up in the same However, the success of rural of them are connected through VSAT year. networks in several countries has technology. further shown the role this type of Cameroon Telecommunication, network can play in the development Cameroon is a country in central CAMTEL, became responsible for of rural communities. Although basic fixed telephony service and CAMTEL human needs are not completely Africa that covers an area of 475 442 km2 with a population estimated at 23 Mobile for mobile telephony service. satisfied in these areas, access to Almost two decades later, the 130 708 of inhabitants in 2014, information enables education, telecommunication sector in medicare, participation in social and bordering Nigeria, Chad, Central Cameroon has undergone an in- political processes, and so on. In African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, depth transformation both on side of some places, simple the access to Gabon, and Republic of the Congo. r e g u l a t o r y a n d i n s t i t u t i o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n h a s t r a n s f o r m s Because of its geological and cultural framework. impoverished regions. diversity it is called “Africa in miniature”. It comprises natural Today, there are four accredited features like deserts, rainforests, network operators in Cameroon A MCT is a public infrastructure for savannahs, beaches, and mountains. presently: CAMTEL, Orange telecommunication services, Cameroon hosts more than 250 Cameroon, MTN Cameroon and computers and the Internet to enable different ethnic and linguistic groups. recently Viettel rebranded Nexttel access to telecommunication Official languages are French and Cameroon. There is also one virtual services and the Internet at a low cost English. network operator: SET' Mobile to the whole local community. It operating like Orange Cameroon Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) and the construction of the one in support. Cameroon bought back the CAMTEL Yaounde, measuring 67.681Km has Mobile 2G license for a duration of 15 already started. The towns of Buea, The fixed telephony is exclusively years and started to operate in Limbe andMaroua measuring operated by CAMTEL, which is February 2000. It is the subsidiary of respectively 29.186km, 35.20km, and established by the Decree No. 98/198 MTN International, whose head- 49,423km will benefit from these of September 8, 1998 following the quarter is in South Africa. It investments in the coming months reform of the telecommunication represents the largest mobile network [Cameroon-tribune 2014]. In sector. Initially, CAMTEL also had a in terms of coverage and users with medium-term, the objective of the 2G license, but it sold this license two around 10 million active subscribers government is to take this years later to the South African MTN that means 54.5% of the market infrastructure to all ten regional and satisfied itself with the operation share today. After many complaints capitals. The Chinese company o f t h e f i x e d n e t w o r k . T h e from MTN and Orange, the exclusivity Huawei Technologies carries this f i x e d t e l e p h o n e s u b s c r i p t i o n of Nexttel on offering 3G services has work into execution. represents only 3.59% of the market finally turned down. share today. To increase its market In contrary to the urban optical loops share, CAMTEL provided wings to After postponing many times the project, the NBN project aims to link fixed telephones by introducing in launch of its services since December the ten regions of Cameroon by 2005 the CTPhone (city phone) 2 0 1 2 w h e n t h e c o n c e s s i o n optical fibre with the ultimate goal to project, which is the mobile version of a g r e e m e n t w a s a p p r o v e d , cover the territory in broadband CAMTEL's fixed telephone. But its V i e t n a m e s e - o w n e d N e x t t e l infrastructure and to provide people total penetration (fixed and mobile) is Cameroon finally launched its with home connections of 2 Mb/s. still very low with 5.7% of market activities in September 2014. Nexttel NBN in fact includes several share representing not more than one services are present in all ten regions components, among which the million subscribers. today. The 3G services are effective, diversification of optical fibre particularly video calls using Tango networks, the development of mobile However, on September 26, 2014, application. However, the promise of broadband Internet and the CAMTEL marked its strong return on dropping the price at15% to 20% was introduction of new generation of the market of mobile telephony with a not met. mobile networks. At the end of the 3G license with duration of 15 years, project, NBN will be available to beginning in January 2015. All network operators are also companies and several Cameroonian Internet service providers: CAMTEL, public administrations, providing The second operator after CAMTEL Nexttel, MTN Cameroon with MTN services such as Triple Play (TV, Mobile to enter the Cameroon's Network Solutions and Orange telephone, Internet), high-definition mobile telephony market is “Societe Cameroon with Orange Multimedia. TV, online video, online gaming, video Mobile du Cameroon” SCM, founded In sum, more than 50 Internet Service conferencing, and so on. in 1999. Since 2003 it changes its Providers operate in Cameroon name and operates as Orange among these are Ringo, YooMee, Cameroon. Orange ranks second in Creolink, Matrix, Saconets. However, E-Post the mobile market behind MTN today, the percentage of individuals using The postal sector plays an important with around six millions of active the Internet in Cameroon is 6.40%. role in the national economy. But this subscribers at the end of 2013; that sector always faces real problems in means a market share of 41%. With Major projects from MINPOSTEL Cameroon, particularly with the entry an increase of 12% in coverage in Several projects in the field of posts, of the Internet. In its strategic plan to 2013, Orange covers around 72% of telecommunication and information develop this sector, the government the population. and communication technologies are has begun improving the sector led by the Ministry of Posts and offerings and to boost existing At the launch of the 9-digit dialling Telecommunications; some of them s e r v i c e s b y u p g r a d i n g t h e system on September 24, 2014, the are undersea cables, Central African infrastructure of Cameroon Postal M i n i s t e r o f P o s t s a n d backbone, urban optical loops, Services (CAMPOST), the public Telecommunications called network National Broadband Network (NBN) postal operator together with the operators to be more transparent and project, e-post project, Pan-African People's Republic of China. The e- reiterated that consumers have the n e t w o r k o f o n l i n e s e r v i c e s post project was created in this right to know the terms of the services a n d m u l t i p u r p o s e c o m m u n i t y context. This project aims to construct they accept, including charges and telecentres. a computer and telecommunication other fees. Orange applied this network for connecting post offices recommendation just a few weeks MINPOSTEL has launched a vast with optical fibre or wireless links; to later by sending automatically an alert construction of urban optical loops build a data centre; to provide after each call, telling to the customer within some regional capitals in order equipment and material and to train the duration and the charge of the call to improve Internet accessibility and the staff. [Businessincameroon.com 2014]. to reduce telecommunication costs. MTN and Nexttel customers are still The optical loop in Douala measuring waiting such a service. 50 km, has already been received Angola Recent output rises is growing VSAT sites

Angola is the sixteenth-most- “non-pre-emptible” contract terms. Walker, EMC and Harris CapRock as populated nation on the African The new satellite operators in the well as some European teleport continent with over 20 million people market tend to sell capacity at prices providers like CETel, and Global TT in 2012201. The country's population around $2,000-2,500/MHz/month in are also present in the country, has been growing at about 3.2% p.a. order to capture market share. Prices primarily serving international oil and over the past five years and is for extended C-band tend to be much gas, and corporate customers. expected to grow to over 47 million by cheaper in Africa compared to normal 2060. C-band and are available at around Currently, oil production comes $1,000-,100/MHz/month. One of the almost entirely from offshore fields in A c c o r d i n g t o t h e A n g o l a n reasons is the diminished usability the coast of Cabinda and deep-water government, the oil sector grew at and the high risk of interferences in fields in the Lower Congo basin. 7.8% as a result of increased areas where Wimax networks are There is small-scale production from population. The non-oil sector also using the same frequencies. onshore fields, but onshore grew at 2.4% reflecting the growth exploration and production have rate of agriculture, manufacturing, been limited in the past due to the civil and trade services. The energy sector The key economic growth sectors like conflict. The national oil company. i s e x p e c t e d t o g r o w 1 2 % , oil and gas, telecommunication, and construction 3.5% and the diamond banking utilize VSAT as their main Sonangol, is a shareholder in almost industry 3.2%. According to IMF c o m m u n i c a t i o n c h a n n e l f o r all oil and natural gas projects. estimates, the Angolan real GDP applications including backhaul, International oil companies (IOCs) grew approximately 4.8% in 2014. remote and backup connectivity. like Total, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Eni Since many of these requirements and BP have joint-venture projects demand much greater reliability than with Sonangol in Angola. Oil is still the backbone of Angola's rain fade would allow in other bands, economy, and the country is currently the networks rely primarily on C- As most of the oil exploration now the second-largest oil producer in b a n d . T h e t w o m a i n taking place in the country is through Africa. Oil sector accounts for more telecommunication companies along deep water projects, VSATs are a than 46% of the GDP and 90% of the with their subsidiaries lease an major communication channel for the export revenue. China is Angola's estimated 900 MHz C-band capacity industry. C-band is mainly preferred, biggest trade partner and export for GSM backhaul and enterprise as the oil fields in the west coast are destination as well as the fourth- VSAT applications in Angola. affected by high rainfall and largest importer. customers often require SLA levels According to the world economic above 99% for awarding contracts, Though being located on the western output report of the international according to Euroconsult report. coast with access to a submarine monetary fund, IMF, an increase of cable network, Angola continues to global economic activity in Angola T h e i m p o r t a n c e o f r e l i a b l e be one of Africa's largest markets for has taken place during the year 2015, communication networks given by oil satellite communications, as much of while the same is expected in the companies is evident from the fact the country's telecommunications subsequent year. that the state oil company Sonangol infrastructure outside of the capital fully owns a telecom provider city Luanda was destroyed by the 27- According to Euroconsult report, 'MSTelcom', the second-largest year civil war, which lasted until 2002. there are around 7 to 10 VSAT telecom operator in the country. providers based in Angola, including MSTelcom has a 25% stake in GSM Since the late 2000s, the arrival of Angola Telecom, MSTelcom, Infrasat, operator Unitel and majority shares in international submarine cable Angola Communication System ISPs ACS, Nexus and Net One. The bandwidth has resulted in the satellite (ACS), Nexus, SISTEC, Net One, company offers VSAT solutions both bandwidth price levels going down by Global Telesat and ITA (Maxnet). directly as well as through its the order of 10 to 20% in many Among these operators, the national subsidiaries to oil and gas corporate countries, particularly in the East telecom operator Angola Telecom customers in Angola. Africa region. However, the pricing wholly owns the service provider remains stable or even tends to go Infrasat, while its main competitor According to reports, VSATs networks higher ($3000/MHz/month) for MSTelcom holds majority stakes in for the major oil and gas companies operators who can offer better ACS, Nexus and Net One. are usually of 30-50 units, with the bandwidth efficiencies (i.e. Mbps per Global service providers like largest networks going up to 60 MHz) as well as redundancy and SkyVision, Hughes, Gilat, Bentley VSATs. Nigeria's dependence on C band According to MSTelcom, they manage 50 to 60 sites for parent highest in Africa - survey company Sonangol to connect the remote exploration sites to the According to Euroconsult report, state in Nigeria has a broadcasting company headquarter in Luanda. Nigerian television market is highly company that broadcasts one or two The average traffic for these sites reliant on C-band satellite capacity, locally operated terrestrial stations. range from 512 Kbps to 2 Mbps. In principally for contribution to earth total, MSTelcom use 36 MHz stations. Given the fact that terrestrial The largest broadcasting company is capacity (one transponder) for reception remains the principal TV g o v e r n m e n t - o w n e d N i g e r i a n managing Sonangol sites. They plan reception mode for a large part of the Television Authority (NTA). The to lease 18 MHz more capacity in the population, C-Band is technically Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) next few months for adding more required for the Nigerian television runs one national channel and has a sites for new Sonangol projects. industry to operate. Ku-band is mainly national network of 101 stations, of used by satellite pay-TV platforms, which 89 are on air while others are at In addition, MSTelcom also operates which account for less than 10% of TV various stages of completion. It one site for Chevron (~1Mbps) and households. reaches over 90 million viewers, five sites for BP (@512Kbps each) in representing around 80% of Nigerians Angola. In 2014, MSTelcom signed a As free-to-air television continues to with access to television. Stations are multiyear contract with Intelsat to make minimal use of Ku-band, C- located in the various states and offer broadband services largely band also provides most of the Abuja, the federal capital, and have focused on corporations in the oil and unencrypted channels freely their own programming but also link to gas and banking sectors in Angola. accessible to viewers. Some free-to- network programming. NTA is the Through the contract, MSTelcom will air channels distributed by satellite do most popular television station in avail C-band capacity on Intelsat-14 use Ku-band as recently launched several Nigerian regions and has the satellite as well as utilize the SES service in collaboration with widest reach in the country. IntelsatOneSM terrestrial network to Computer Warehouse), but they are provide point-to-point (SCPC) and recent and are not expected to be Private players in the TV scene point-to-multipoint services. Global used by a lot of households in the include: Silverbird Television (STV), service provider ITC Global (Newsat) initial development phase, as they Africa Independent Television (AIT), has reported that it manages about require an antenna, which can be an Channels Television and several 40 sites in Angola, utilizing in total inhibitor for a population with low others. Most of their programming is around 90MHz C-band capacity. purchasing power. aimed at the African and global . markets and is broadcast globally Also, Europe-based service provider The Nigerian Television Authority NTA from Lagos, Abuja, Obosi and Port CETel started to operate 15 C-band uplinks its signals in the C-band to Harcourt with affiliated TV stations in sites in Angola for two to three Oil and reach terrestrial emitters in Nigeria several African countries. African Gas companies using 5MHz and Europe. It operates two earth Independent Television (AIT) is a capacity. According to Hughes, they stations in Abuja and one earth station high-profile satellite TV station manage around 10 sites for IOCs in Lagos. Apart from this NTA control broadcasting globally from its Lagos operating in Angola. Global VSAT 10 C-band uplink facilities across the and Abuja centers. Other direct provider Harris Caprock has started country, which include seven DSNG satellite TV stations with international to operate few dozens of high data terminals. They currently have 100 C- reach include ON Television and rate sites on C-band for international band TVROs that are analog Galaxy TV. oil companies. terrestrial TV stations receiving TV Its estimated that approximately 230 signals from these uplink stations On top of free-to-air terrestrial C-band VSATs should currently be in located in all state capitals and other content, pay-DTT services offered by service according to the typical community stations. StarTimes TV and GoTV (Multichoice) number of sites deployed for oil also use C-band capacity for content companies as well as considering the These signals received by TVROs are delivery to their terrestrial emitters. current major offshore and deep further transmitted terrestrially in UHF The two combined for around 120 TV water projects by Sonangol, Total, and VHF bands to end customers. channels at YE 2013. In April 2014, Exxonmobil, BP, Chevron, and other The 100 analog channels are all Multichoice expanded its C-band small players. So far, crude oil expected to migrate to DTT in the capacity on Intelsat 904 to further production rate of over 2.0 million future according to NTA. The latter is expand its GoTV service in Sub- bbl./d in the years to come from 1.8 currently not transmitting on Ku-band Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. million bbl./d in 2014, as new deep- capacity, and there is currently no C-band usage for TV is expected to water oil fields are scheduled to plan to use Ku-band. continue to grow in Nigeria. come online. Consequently, the C- According to Globecast, drivers for band usage in the Oil and Gas The total number of broadcast future C-band usage in Nigeria segment is also expected to grow in stations (i.e., TV, DTH services and includes high definition distribution the next five years as new deep- radio) in Nigeria currently stands growth, DTT migration that will water sites at depths of over 1,200 around 267 according to the Nigerian develop contribution needs to cover meters with no terrestrial network Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, of terrestrial head-ends and increase of coverage are expected to get which 109 are terrestrial TV stations. international events taking place in deployed. Out of these, only a few channels are Africa that will increase occasional present on a national scale. Each use demand in C-band Lead story

Satellite still a critical infrastructure in Africa

Africa is one of the fastest growing services. In North Africa where challenges. markets for telecommunications and transponder usage is dominated by satellite services with close to 50 video services (>75%), and while in According to Euronsult report, the satellites covering at least part of Sub-Saharan Africa the use of availability of C-band satellite links is Africa with C-band capacity in 2014, satellite capacity are mainlyfor o f c l e a r, d i r e c t a n d o f t e n out of around 72 satellites covering telecom purposes is dominant considerable importance to a variety the region. (>65%). of economic sectors in all three focus countries. In Nigeria, the national operator, Despite the launch of new submarine NigComSat has a satellite in service, cables across the continent, linking Across Africa, C-band contribution with current plans for additional two Africa, Europe and North America, feeds directly underpin the television satellites, the NigComSat 2, and 3 telecommunications in Africa remains industries. C-band transmission is a respectively. In DRC and Angola, the a sector with numerous challenges to key component for the distribution of first national systems are currently bring access to telecommunications free-to-air analog and digital and under procurement and would be to the greatest part of the population, pay-DTT services. The access of launched soon. African operators it is however a dynamic and fast millions of viewers to TV content is are also internalizing technical growing sector with a number of consequently dependent on the competencies for the procurement African and foreign players actively availability of high-quality C-band and management of communication developing infrastructures and transmissions. links. These can typically include gradually improving access to basic mobile network operators and and advanced communications Another key segment is the oil and o p e r a t o r s o f b r o a d c a s t throughout Africa. In this competitive gas and mining industries. infrastructures and services, as well arena, telecom operators rely both on Euroconsult estimates more than as certain banks. A number of terrestrial and space infrastructure to 200 C-band VSAT terminals in installers and distributors complete meet their network requirements. diffrent countries, especially Nigeria, the ecosystem and cooperate with Angola, and Congo Republic either local or international In Africa, the transponder capacity for respectively. companies. telecom applications is typically sold by satellite operators in the range of Connectivity is key in both The African satellite market is $1,100 to $3,200 per MHz per month, exploration and daily production estimated to have grown in the last depending on technical factors such activities. few years as much as twice more as beam illumination, look angle and than the global average of 4-5% and availability of in-orbit backup satellite A third key segment is the banking perspective are even considered to from the operator. According to sector. In African countries, C-band be at least as promising. Euroconsult, the prices also tend to VSAT networks are widely used to be cheaper for service providers that c o n n e c t b a n k b r a n c h e s t o It is estimated that the African indirectly buy capacity from satellite headquarters, supporting banking satellite capacity market has reached operators' offices stationed outside services to millions of citizens on a 700 transponders, 36 MHz the continent, like in Europe where daily basis. In total, banks currently equivalent as of year-end 2015, the transponder capacity tends to be use a total of around 1,900 VSAT representing a total market value of 15 to 20% cheaper. However, for such networks in the three countries. roughly USD 1 billion. purchases, the service support from operators in case of satellite outages, T h e a v a i l a b i l i t y o f C - b a n d These transponders are almost interference or similar technical connectivity is an important tool to equally used for telecom and video failures have often been an added support the expansion of banking networks. In DRC, for example, it is destination. a key tool to allow the payment of More service providers offering direct civil servants through bank The satellite provides therefore an connection via satellite for broadband accounts on a national basis, ideal solution for those operators who services. This number could continue based on Euroconsult report. can improve the management of their to increase rapidly with the provision capacity and traffic. This market is a big of greater capacity and high power The fourth key economic sector market for satellite: 8 of the 10 Pan capacity Ka-band offers the possibility supported by C-band connectivity African operators lease capacity on of lowering the cost of connection. corresponds to the telecom sector, Intelsat usually 65% of subscribers. The pan-African provider Gateway including mobile networks and The satellite has a place of choice in Communications has seen its ISPs. Mobile operators, in this market for network deployment of revenue from private corporate particular, are dependent on C- n e w l i c e n s e e s f o r c o u n t r i e s networks grow in the past few years band to connect part of their mobile undergoing liberalization and to despite the crisis. base stations. C-band is and will continue the expansion of networks to remain for a number of years the second and third tier cities in the larger only option to expand the coverage countries. In some countries such as Satellite in the Video Market of mobile networks on a national Rwanda, which has plans to deploy a basis. fibre optic network on a large scale, the The TV market is in Africa is principally satellite has still a place in the short served by satellite. While the media Although it is more and more term. However, these countries are not and the entertainment industry challenged by the deployment of many in Africa and only a small part of struggle worldwide, the middle east optical fibre networks, the satellite the demand. and North African market is providing remains a key technology in the a bright spot. The pan Arabian media p r o v i s i o n o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l Cable landing point industry is growing faster than the connectivity. The satellite thus economy in general, at 19 per cent keeps a major role of provider of Despite the deployment of many loops per year. The appeal of the sector to additional connectivity for on submarine cables and the future investors is expected to continue to submarine cables. deployment of terrestrial cables, grow as Middle eastern consumers African countries because of their spend more disposable income on Indeed, those will not be sufficient geography and economy cannot media and entertainment, and to connect all African countries benefit from full coverage of their government invest in the industry, together. Despite the abundance populations through the terrestrial ease regulation and reduce barrier to submarines that connect the network. entry. coastal countries, countries with The satellite used to interconnect the no access to the sea remain quite LANs together to provide a national The number of channels is growing poorly served. Satellite services backbone, covering all villages in with the increasing number of c o n t i n u e t o p r o v i d e t h i s which the ISPs want to develop. A bouquets and the declination of connectivity through broad C-band satellite with only partial coverage of existing chains with by products and coverage covering both Africa and the region is sufficient in this case, a the creation of completely new Europe or the United States, or the good coverage of the country is channels following the same model as Middle East. however required with a sufficient more mature market like the EIRP to allow affordable antennas for European market. ISPs. The Ka-band would have a GSM operators have managed to decisive advantage because of the In addition to these major players, the use the satellite infrastructure to price difference it offers with Ku. rapidly deploy their networks at small national multiplexes including national level and pan-African Regional connectivity few channels generally in open level. Indeed, at the national level, Africa needs additional infrastructure access, it is necessary for operators to to connect directly with each other two The pan Arabian media and interconnect their local networks African countries without going when those cannot be connected entertainment industry has grown through a Northern hub. Indeed, faster than that of any other region. A by fibre, because of their Internet traffic is still largely repatriated inconvenient geographical on hubs in Europe or the United states. reduction of regulatory barrier is the location. Thus in extensive Projects are developed to support the major supporting factor. Middle east countries like the DRC or development of regional Internet Mauritania about 90% and 48% of governments are moving their infrastructure. But currently less than economies away from dependence mobile network connections are 10% of traffic is done intraregional. through satellite. Yet the development of regional on natural resources and torward infrastructure would reduce the more knowledge base economies, At the same time, most new dependence of African ISPs traffic and and media is being targeted as a networks are in the hands of a would significantly reduce the cost of priority sector. Literacy campaigns dozen pan-African operators who transit. The creation of IXPs has been have helped to build a base market, together account for three- initiated, but remains focused on the quarters of subscribers in Africa. It IXPs in some regions: Southern Africa, while more established media such as is imperative to repatriate their East Africa and most countries in West television and films have maintained a traffic to their hub or to the landing Africa and Central and are not foothold. point closest to the final connected to each other. Alhough broadband penetration is as Arabian idol. In total, the number of satellite high compared to the rest of the Satellite broadcasting is the dominant channels should continue to Sub Saharan Africa, internet television delivery method across the increase with the expansion of access is growing quickly. The region , and is expected to remain the existing packages and the creation North Africa and Middle East has a leader, ahead of cable and terrestrial of few additional packages comparatively high penetration of TV. targeting most advanced countries. mobile phones and competitive In terms of advertising revenue and The deployment of MMDS telecommunication industry that viewers, free-to-air satellite TV is networks remains subject to the will drive growth in new mobile and providing strong competition to the regulations of each country and digital media. pay TV sector, driven by quality of remains under-developed. Existing The region growth is driven by content and general programming. radio systems are also used for the younger, wealthier population Free-to-air channels have alsos contribution but their quality base that is growing solidly, introduced themed channels and remains high acoss different boosted by strengthening private offered access to the latest western countries, and most are satellite sector. Roughly half of the content. transmissions. population in the middle east is The launch of MBC2, which screens under 25 years old, western blockbusters, is one such Growth Opportunities for Of course some industry slowdown example. In addition, traditionally free Satellite can be expcted due to global providers are launching subscription Satellite will benefit from the large economic conditions. However, channels, such as Al Jazeera sports, amount of capacity which is fundamentals remain strong, which is distributed through pay TV deployed on cable, as most market demand is growing and the providers.With HDTV, high definition operators will not rely on one single opportunity for greater penetration television set to take off on the region, access point forn international remains. with the introduction of quality HD bandwidth. programming, pay TV . In terms of TV, the region is Television content is heavily focused Satellite has been growingly used growing hub of production and on series and dramas, which account for cellular backhaul from semi news, and the medium continues for 40 % of all production, with news urban or rural areas to urban areas to play a significant role in the life f o l l o w i n g a t a b o u t 2 0 t o over the past 10 years. Recently, across the region, with family 25%.documentation and religious Vodacom, the leading satellite viewing common year round programming follow with shares of backhaul provider, was leasing up especially during the holy month of between 5 and 15 per cent. Business, to 60 transponders to service Ramadan. children programs and reality TV all cellular backhaul and corporate exist within the region but with much users. Vodacom International is Al jazeera hook up the regional lower budgets. carrying telecommunications traffic news landscape when it launched Across the region there are is an generated to and from more than its English language newtwork in increasing demand for local content, 20 base stations and switching 2006. The first English network to catering to regional and cultural centres around and inside the be broadcast from the middle east. differences. While demand for Arabic African countries via satellite. New Al jazeera sough to bring a programming is growing across the service providers are coming to the different new angle to both local board, viewers are also looking for market as pan-African capacity is and international audience. specific content that recognize the being deployed. The region has begun to attract regional, cultural and language Cellular operators will turn to fibre optic cables as international major television companies differences throughout the middle east capacity is deployed and as they and North African region. including BBC, CNN, and are mutualising their investments Showtime, following MBC, which efforts to deploy domestic cables. has moved to the region. In T h i s i s d r i v i n g d e m a n d f o r However, deployment of fibres will addition, there is agrowing programming in different dialects and not be cost effective either in mountainous countries or in rural incorporating differing cultural settings, demand for local reality TV areas. Therefore, there will still be including the the arab adaptation of even as most locally produced TV seris room for satellite to cover backhaul popular western programs, such content is produced in Egypt. rural areas and non fibered countries.As demand for larger i n f r a s t r u c t u r e w o u l d p r o v e headquarters in Abidjan, with 20 prohibitive. bandwidth increases, operators will agencies in other parts of the country,” deploy new broadband services The mobile networks have thus says Pacilly, “your headquarters will helped to provide Africa with part of even in landlocked countries. There use the cable, but you will not have any w i l l b e a d d i t i o n a l g r o w t h the connectivity that was missing. choice for the agencies – you will The mobile operators can connect opportunities for satellite to provide continue with V-SAT.” domestic Backbone to Carriers, subscribers for about one tenth the ISPs, MNO to connect establish a cost of a fixed network, irrespective domestic backbone for PoPs, to These last two years have marked a of external conditions. Operators connect to regional PoPs, to main turning point in the history of have deployed networks in remote areas to enable families to hub and IXPs. The aim of having telecommunications in Africa. Long communicate. one IXP per country is far from isolated from the rest of the world in being reached and ISPs will need In most African countries, the mobile connection to international IXPs or t e r m s o f t e r r e s t r i a l t e l e c o m sector is competitive but taxes on hubs either in Africa or in Europe or connections, Africa is now almost services and facilities make the price Middle East. entirely connected by submarine per minute among the highest in the world. cables. By 2011, submarine cables will Vodacom Africa estimates that Despite these constraints, the form an entire loop around Africa around 70% of African landmass is development of prepaid services out of reach of fibre infrastructure; providing Gbps of additional capacity. a n d t h e c r i t i c a l n e e d f o r however 40% of African population Africa is now seen by cable operators communication have enabled an exponential growth in mobile lived in urban areas, likely to be as a "hot spot ". In parallel, large amount cabled first. As fibre optic cables are subscriber base, growth has of satellite capacity satellite will be being deployed, demand for large continued even during the current amount of bandwidth is finally l a u n c h e d b y 2 0 1 2 w i t h h i g h global crisis. Safaricom in Kenya has surging in Africa and deployment of performance satellites dedicated to indicated that on average 25 months were required to recover the initial broadband services is rapidly Africa. expanding. Satellite will thus investment in rural areas. Services are being expanded with the benefit from this surge in The largest industries in Africa, apart broadband deployment of 3G broadband demand, though it is from the telecommunications sector, networks, to meet the demand for l o s i n g m a r k e t s h a r e s o f are the petroleum, mining, distribution Internet connectivity, yet somewhat international backbone provision. and transportation sectors. All these filled by terrestrial networks. Satellite will find its place in hybrid companies have specific needs to Prepaid cards are very prevalent in infrastructure providing the last mile interconnect their sites or have sites Africa and far exceed the package to landlocked countries, to remote located in remote areas not covered by subscriptions. areas and to low populated areas. traditional infrastructure. National networks are concentrated M a r k e t p l a y e r s h a v e b e e n Satellite offers the possibility to around the cities of great importance innovative in marketing and sales to rapidly deploy a multisite backbone and do not serve rural areas in most enable the poorest to be equipped independent to the geography of countries. Thus, as the specific raw with mobile phones, micro-payment, the country/region and to the material resources of Africa (eg oil, gas, the marginal cost of the SMS in t e r r i t o r y s p r e a d . S a t e l l i t e gold, diamonds) are usually located in some countries, micro-finance for networking is particularly efficient remote places, companies exploiting the purchase of a phone. for MNOs or ISPs deploying their these resources cannot meet their networks, or international corporate telecommunications needs other than Aso, the sharing of backup capacity companies with multiple sites in with VSAT satellite communications. by mobile operators for multiple Africa or corporate companies with In addition, there is virtually no intra- national markets is an emerging sites in remote areas such as regional network in Africa. The sites of trend. . This is particularly relevant in mining, oil, gas. international companies investing in the African context due to the large VSAT sites have been deployed Africa cannot easily communicate with operations of leading mobile widely on the continent to meet each other both at the African level and operators, to the extension of quality and reliability requirements outside the continent. networks and capacity needs and to from the numerous mining, oil, and Liberalization has encouraged private the limited reliability of terrestrial gas industries and of the Western investment and thus the rapid backbone solutions in large areas. multinationals and banks. They are development of mobile telephony. Two The wide coverage area of satellite also the only communications thirds of Africans now live close to a is consequently a clear advantage means in a large number of areas to coverage area of the telephone for such capacity-sharing schemes. provide connectivity to remote sites network. But this is far from being the The service providers operating or tourisms spots. case for Internet access and networks of large regional Christophe Pacilly, sales director at broadband. Africa has only 35 million companies have also stated that SeaMobile Europe, says the lines in an unfavourable regulatory East Africa to West Africa movement of mobile operators e n v i r o n m e n t a n d a d i f f i c u l t connectivity is often needed for their away from satellite will free up geographical environment. In most end-user networks. capacity for corporate clients. “If countries, the cost of deploying wireline you are a big company with your Africa

Is IPTV a pipe dream?

ISince the establishment of Nigerian 8 0 s d u r i n g t h e B a b a n g i d a videotape and broadcast TV, the Television Authority (NTA) way back administration, and the rise of new ability of content owners and privatized TV stations, such as AIT, independent filmmakers and on 31st October 1959, after the Channels, Minaj, Silverbirds as well musicians to reach their audiences Western Nigerian Television (WNTV) as cable and satellite broadcast without needing the distribution beamed out its first Television signals networks making it very hard for power of multi-national media in Nigeria, our mass media has Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) to companies has important meaning for the future of an independent functioned in one way. Programmers aggregate the mass audience needed for a basic commodity media system. looked to advertisers to pay for the consumer product. Whereas in 1980 cost of the media in return for access an average hit show on NTA could In the world of IPTV, anyone who to the audience for their marketing draw 30 million TV audience, today wanted to “Publish” media would have no more trouble than putting up campaigns. Radio broadcasting was the highest rated program might draw a little over 10 million sometimes less a web site. They could sell their earlier introduced in Nigeria in 1932 by of this TV audience base. So as the programming by subscription, “Pay the then British Colonial authorities as audience got disaggregated, so did per view” or give it away for free with an experiment of the empire service of the advertising business. targeted advertising. They would not have any “gatekeeper” determining the BBC. The Nigerian Television Authority, who could reach their audience. NTA had built a huge business in the Many of the worries about Media During these periods, corporations, broadcasting industry, relying on the old and new, such as UAC, Unilever, Concentration would be overtaken infrastructure developed by the old by the IP world of total abundance. Nestles, Cadbury, jostle for space as NITEL, contributing to the wide they relied on TV commercials to network its enjoyed in the last couple promote their products. The only One unique aspect of IPTV deserves of decades. mention here. While a cable network differentiation between good and bad In the late 1990s a second disruptive product was their appearance on TV transmits all channels to each user, factor to the classic TV advertising a n I P T V n e t w o r k o p e r a t e s commercials. This promoted wide model entered the picture. This was acceptability of their products. The interactively and transmits only the the construction of the optical fiber channels the viewer is actually rise of the earliest multinationals can backbone. be traced back to the lavish watching. The number of channels that can be offered on a traditional campaigns floated on the Nigeria The year 2000s saw the development Television Authority; NTA as it was cable network is limited by the of terrestrial microwave links and the amount of spectrum allotted on its the largest TV network in Africa as undersea cables, and it is also the well as one of the oldest and most hybrid fibre-coax distribution year that saw the rise of IPTV, since its systems. But the number of accomplished indigenous broadcast launch in Lagos by Integrity outfits in Nigeria. channels on an IPTV network is communications, it now counts effectively unlimited. Thus, IPTV 100,000 IPTV subscribers making it represents a paradigm shift in the Then comes the policies of as the first successful entry in Nigeria. commercialization and liberisation of ability to target programming to the broadcasting industry in the late niche audience that cannot be As we move from the analog age of economically addressed today. that will effectively distribute this Egyptian space corporation, NARSS capacity to the distribution nodes at Egypt in space is operating 2 ground stations, one in the metropolitan areas of all regions Cairo and one in Aswan. The Cairo in the country that will supply station also receives SPOT-4, NOAA Yahsat Expands “Yahclick” in Angol sufficient fiber capacity to the The Egyptian National Authority for and the Landsat satellites. backbone. Remote Sensing and Space In addition, a university project Sciences, NARSS was established "Egycubesat-1" (1kg mass) in But what was an opportunity in 2001 in 1991 to pursue, transfer, and cooperation with SSTL, VEGA and becomes a problem today. The provide the most modern technology ITU has been planned for launch to conversion of the fibre optic network in the fields of Remote Sensing and routinely provide snapshots of Egypt into an IP-TV broadband platform of peaceful applications of Space with a 100m ground resolution.. immense capacity for Media to Sciences, and build the self function in the society is yet to be capability of utilizing these enabled. technologies to support the National Nilesat Assuming every home had Universal development plans and objectives. The Egyptian national operator Broadband with an Ethernet jack in founded in 1996, is positioned the wall to which residents could plug In 2007, NARSS decided to build its primarily to provide television any browser based IP media terminal first earth observation EO satellite, services by direct reception on the connected to a TV monitor with 2 named EgyptSAT-1 in partnership Middle East and North Africa. The MBPS connectivity capable of with Ukraine. A second EgyptSAT-2 union of the Egyptian Radio and receiving streaming DVD quality satellite was also built with less Television (ERTU) is the major video on demand, it probably would foreign input. shareholder with 40% of the capital; serve as the distribution system. 14% of the shares are public and the The 165kg, 20 million USD remaining 46% are held by So far, in Nigeria, satellite DTH EgypSAT-1 was built by Yuzhnoye investors, mostly Egyptian. operators have long relied on its Design Bureau based in Ukraine, strong content acquisition and media and was launched in April 2007. It Nilesat operates two satellites from r e l a t i o n s h i p s t o s t a r v e o ff has a nominal ground resolution of position 7°W, Nilesat 101 and Nilesat challengers. Content is the king and 7.8 meters with 2 imaging 102, launched in 1998 and 2000 most Telcos IPTV ventures are still i n s t r u m e n t s : a respectively. Each satellite has a lacking in this area, but this will not multispectral/panchromatic and NIR capacity of 12 Ku transponders always be the case. If satellite DTH imager (39m resolution), able to (33MHz) high power. In late 1999, operators do not look beyond their provide a full coverage of Egypt in 70 these two satellites distributed 323 traditional business models when days. The swath was respectively 47 television channels; about a third of terrestrial triple play comes home to and 55 km. The mission expected these channels is part of the roost, they will be sorely tested by the lifetime was 3 years. subscription packages Showtime interactivity and the converged and ADD, the other channels are services that terrestrial competition During its construction phase, 64 free. will be able to offer. Egyptian engineers were trained in Ukraine. The mission is not active Nilesat has signed a strategic There are many issues for telcos to anymore, since the contact with the partnership with Eutelsat in 2005 to address to achieve successful IPTV satellite has been lost definitively in jointly develop the 7°W position. deployment, but it just a matter of July 2010. Under the agreement, Eutelsat time before they pose a serious placed in July 2006 the satellite threat. Since it re-launch many EgyptSAT-2 has a similar design to Atlantic Bird 4 at 7°W alongside the months ago, the services has had to EgyptSAT-1 with an increased two Egyptian satellites. The position rely on content from satellite DTH resolution to 5.4m, and with a greater is now occupied transiently by Hot operators in order to broadcast tom Egyptian domestic input. About 200 Bird 10 (operated at this location its viewers. engineers were trained during the under the name Atlantic Bird 4A) to Although the necessary fiber design and construction of the launch Atlantic Bird late 2011. backbone for a Trans-African IP TV satellite. system is in place, the local build out To meet the rapid development of of robust broadband capacity to the The third Egyptian satellite, was t h i s p o s i t i o n , N i l e s a t a l s o home is lagging. named DesertSAT, a 120kg satellite, commissioned in May 2008 to Currently in Nigeria, the Nigerian earlier scheduled for launch this Thales Alenia Space, the satellite Communications Commission, NCC, year, except that the medium- Nilesat 201 whose launch was estimates that more than 10 resolution sensors will be tuned to planned for Q3 2010. This satellite terabytes of telecommunications f i n d u n d e r g r o u n d w a t e r will replace Nilesat 101 and add an capacity exists at the landing point, characteristics. additional capacity of 12 Ku but the challenge is the deployment transponders and 4 Ka. Nilesat 201 of fiber infrastructure across the would be entirely pre-let since mid- country 2009. International

Why more Bollywood films are marketed in English

The Indian film industry is often overlooked in its growing importance overseas. Producing over 1,000 films a year, the industry is the world's biggest film in terms of production and people employed. After ICT, Bollywood is the fastest growing sector growing by 360%, and recently embracing digital distribution channels such as video and internet, according to report.

Despite the size and strength of its decades. local entertainment and media Leading Indian enterprise Before the 1990s, films are bought in industry, estimated at US$21.5bn, Eros International Plc, simply Eros, with over 500 million TV viewers, and ethnic shops and sometimes exhibited in community centers. From is a listed global company in the 129 million TV households, reaching Indian film entertainment industry. over 60 per cent of its population, the 1990s onwards, Bollywood is eager to explore new ways of Founded in 1973 in Mumbai, it co- I n d i a h a s s u c c e s s f u l l y produces, acquires and distributes internationalise its entertainment distribution and exhibition that could take their movies abroad, relying on Indian films in different formats to industry doubling its size and annual over 50 countries through theatrical, revenues well ahead of her Asian TV, video and more recently, internet downloading. television and digital channels. Its rival, especially china. hold aggregated rights over 5,000 In order to broaden its production When distributors start to offer films films. base, India liberalise its uplinking through video and internet, the policy, and permit private companies exports market grows steadily. Each year, it releases over 70 to set up uplinking HUB and teleports Because demand from the diaspora movies. And has offices in India, for hiring out to other broadcasters, grows so fast, the main distribution Australia, Fiji, Singapore, United making it possible to uplink any companies today sell films to TV Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and television channel from India. channels or directly to the customer the United States of America. through retail and web shops. In India, digitization of content and delivery platforms, is leading to The biggest TV-channel of India, Zee increasing reach to wider audience TV, draws 50% of its revenues from Distribution Channels across the world, delivering exports to 7 million subscribers Eros distributes through theatrical, entertainment content via multi abroad. In recent times,, revenues television and digital channels from system operators, made up of cable from cinema exhibition in export which they draw 43% of its revenues. operators, DTH operators, internet markets grow by 21%, making up Films are theatrically released in and IPTV service providers. 10% of Bollywood's total turnover. By over 50 countries and dubbed or estimation, Bollywood collects more subtitled in over 25 languages. Eros India's leading entertainment clan, than $200 million annually abroad distributes to both multiplex chains Bollywood was mostly an indigenous and standalone theatres. From 2010 industry decades ago, but times have Today, Bollywood companies are to 2015 the revenue performance of changed. In the late 1990s the global buying up cinemas chains abroad. A the theatrical channel increases and local industry had began to subsidiary of the second-largest from $50 million to $123. interact more intensively. Around I n d i a n c o m p a n y, R e l i a n c e 2000s the growth of Bollywood takes Entertainment, owns over 200 In the television channel Eros a leap and so does the export of films c i n e m a s i n N o r t h A m e r i c a , reaches subscribers to cable or pay all over the world. The firms are strengthening Bollywood's internal TV and YouTube. They license their increasingly internationalizing, and and external economies through film content to content aggregators particularly have over the last few exports. both in India as abroad. From 2010 to 2015 the revenue performance of equally enormous. At this moment, in the U.S. such as Comcast, Cox the television channel increases from however, Eros earns about 61% of its Communications and Time Warner $53 million to $101 million. revenue outside India. Cable.

Digitally, Eros primarily distributes Eros recently partners industry In the same year, Eros enters into an content through Internet Protocol giants in the Chinese film industry, agreement with web-based VOD TeleVision IPTV, Video-on-Demand the China Film Group Corporation, service company Movielink, now (VOD) and online internet channels. Shanghai Film Group Corporation, known as Blockbuster. On its In 2012, Eros launches online and Fudan university. In these website, customers could legally subscription service ErosNow. partnerships they co-produce, promote and distribute Sino-Indian download Bollywood movies. films in India and China. The size and This on-demand portal offers growth rate of the Chinese movie In Europe, Eros makes a digital entry, unlimited access to films, music and market offers Eros a prospect of a launchinng a digital movie download music videos in Eros' library, and are growing Chinese Box Office and a service with RTL. The goal of this available on all internet-enabled high rewarding opportunity in the deal is to make Eros' movies devices. Next to paid services, long run. available to a Dutch audience ErosNow also offers a range of free through RTL's digital platform. It can movies. Internationalization Process be suggested that Eros has the Last year, ErosNow registers 19 number of Indian population In the 1990s and 2000s, Bollywood overseas in mind. The largest million subscribers globally. The movies were mostly exported to premium users of ErosNow deliver a diaspora market lie in the U.S., U.K. ethnic shops in the diaspora markets, a n d C a n a d a , b u t a l s o t h e monthly returning subscription Because these movies were often revenue, while the free users are Netherlands offer an interesting illegally copied and sold, Eros market for Bollywood films m o n e t i z e d t h r o u g h o n l i n e decided in the 1990s to lower the advertising. According to the price of the video tapes in the U.S. company, transaction revenues are market. Eros' VP of marketing, The possibility of accessing films drawn from mobile users, and Behram Shahparast, says that in online, from anywhere and anytime, syndication revenues from the Canada they consequently sold is a positive incentive for viewers to proprietary of original content to 10,000 copies of the film Hum Aapke subscribe to a VOD service. Eros niche television and online platforms. Hain Koun, whereas in the past they recognizes potential in digital would be lucky if they sold 1,000. distribution and embraces it. After Competitive Position Today, substantial revenues, years of experience and gaining Eros has a strong competitive however, still come from theatrical knowledge on the international digital position in the market with a multi- distribution to the diaspora market. market, Eros starts monetizing their platform model. In the theatrical content independently and launches sector, Eros has held an average of 3 F r o m v i d e o a n d t h e a t r i c a l ErosNow in 2012. out of top 10 box office hits past five distribution, Eros moved on to years. The pre-sales of their films are establishing local offices in Australia, facilitated by their brand, reputation Fiji, Singapore, United Arab Additionally, Eros has its own and industry relationships, holding Emirates, United Kingdom and the YouTube channel, a medium that is a the highest theatrical market share of United States of America. In the last w e l l - k n o w n a n d a c c e s s i b l e Indian companies in the United 10 years and increasingly gains throughout the western world. The States and the United Kingdom. confidence in establishing itself in the promotions it carries out through this foreign market by digital products. channel offers a platform for In the television sector, cable consumers to get more familiar with digitization and rising Pay TV In 2005, it closes a deal with U.K's Eros. penetration foster the demand for IPTV service Home Choice. With a premium content. In the digital target audience of South Asian sector, ErosNow is the leading Indian diaspora in mind, they launch the platform with a global reach. In service “B On Demand movies”, contrary to Netflix, Eros owns most of priced at £10 a month Similarly, it the content on ErosNow, so the seal a deal with Canadian company content acquisition costs are not Rogers Cable. In 2006, Eros makes high. Eros only acquires some several digital deals. It enters into an content from rival studios to enhance agreement with International the variation in offered content. Networks, a subsidiary of Comcast, to launch a service called “Bollywood In spite of its international position, Hits on Demand” in North America. India is expected to climb 1 billion This service is a subscription video- internet users in the next 15 years, so on-demand (SVOD), available from the growth potential domestically is the largest broadcasting companies Africa Sports programming driving pay TV growth in Africa

revenue for the organisers. Similarly, The last two decades saw the As a result, big sporting competitions have the power to deliver large the FIFA World Cup in Germany, introduction of more digital platforms, number of viewers even outside generated a profit of over USD 2 and of satellite pay-TV platforms peak-viewing times, a quality which is billion and FIFA realized a profits of have been launched around the becoming rarer as the audience USD 3.2 billion for the World Cup in 2010. continent, all competing to attract as continues to fragment in a multi- channel environment . Since studies many subscribers as possible and all have shown that media content turning to sport to help them achieve creativity and quality programming News vs. sports this. Today sport is a global are among the basic factors that Despite the abundance of sports spectacle, as countries from around motivate audience in developing content, recent report have shown nations to watch satellite television the world showcase themselves at that news ranked first as the most channels. the Olympics, FIFA World Cups or preferred content in satellite TV and local TV by 46.5 percent and 64.6 other major sporting events, and the Sports organisations were also happy percent of respondents respectively. whole world watches in anticipation. to sell their property to a television Foreign movies were ranked second channel without looking at more than and their as the preferred content in In 2016, Sub-Saharan Africa's pay- one ways of exploiting it such as satellite TV while sports programmes TV households reached all time high different packages for live, near-live and documentaries were ranked at 16 million , with satellite pay-TV coverage and highlights. second and third respectively as the services leading the way 12 million As the local press in different next most proffered contents in Local subscribers based. With the arrival of countries began to report, television TV. digital television and satellite TV, companies were worried that they Many sporting organisations, among service providers changed the had paid too much money for a type of them football clubs, were happy to sell traditional relationship of channel content that turned out to be less to the highest bidder without doing a and viewer to one of service provider popular than initially thought and for a more thorough research on the best and customer. It also brought a market that was not big enough to way of achieving television coverage, sudden increase of live sport on support this spending. developing other sources of income, television together with huge looking at the real value of their investments on sports dedicated In Ethiopia, typically, football fans product (and its value as TV content) channels and increased competition including children spend time in local and ways of increasing it. for sports rights. stadiums to watch the football games between the local clubs. However, in n

Competition started to increase with Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitshare, tunned on to satellite TV, followed by the deregulation of the broadcasting Paycoins and over 500 altcoins markets and the arrival of private high quality programme content” as c o n s t i t u t e t h e w o r l d o f television which agreed to pay more well as the excitiment and cryptocurrency providing a fast way than their public counterparts in order entertainment offered by the to transfer funds globally, with to get sporting content that could minimal transaction costs, while increase viewing rates and, as a programming content. being independent from a third party result, their advertising market share. to handle the transactions. Their This shows that quality of production transactions are irreversible, this way the recipient of the funds is sure and programme content, including that he owns the funds for good and Technology advancement the exciting nature of satellite therefore less trust is needed to In Africa, satellite television television programmes, interest make sure the other party is reliable. programme subscribers tend to be viewers in satellite TV households Ripple was established by Ryan swelling. Prior to 1991, the satellite and have accounted for the growing Fugger in 2004. Mid 2011, computer dish was the only means of receiving interest in subscription to these programmer Jed McCaleb joined, and hired David Schwartz for DBS channels in Nigeria. By 1991, channels. the “wireless cable” came into developing the Ripple consensus algorithm in order to create a less Today, it is impossible to imagine the existence in the United States and c o m p u t a t i o n a l l y i n e f f i c i e n t European league, Olympics or a that same year, the facility was made alternative to the Bitcoin “proof of World Cup without television work”-solution. In 2012, Chris available in Lagos, Nigeria, and coverage, the relationship between Larsen joined who is currently CEO. sport and the media, especially some other African nations, making July 2014, McCaleb disputed with television, is one that has become DBS channels more accessible and the other co-founders over the very important for both of them. available to more people. company vision, and separated with the company to subsequently create In this unlikely scenario, television Stellar, a direct protocol fork of In Nigeria, Hero communications, would lose the almost 4.7 billion Ripple. The company behind the through ABG, installed the first Multi- viewers who watched the 2008 Ripple protocol was first named channel, Multipoint Distribution Olympics for example as well as the OpenCoin, but changed its name in Service (MMDS) in Lagos and other revenue from advertising during that September 2013 to Ripple Labs, Inc. major cities in Africa. With the coverage and the prestige that the The source code was subsequently introduction of the “cable-antenna” event can bring to a television station. made open source. DBS became revolutionalised as the The Games on the other hand would receiver. Today, satellite TV lose the same number of viewers, the Ripple Labs has gotten much antennas vie with local TV antennas revenues from television rights and attention in the news. The for space across Africa. most sponsorship agreements, which M a s s a c h u s e t t s I n s t i t u t e o f together account for 60% of the total Technology (MIT) recognized Ripple revenue of the organising committee, A study has revealed that 54 percent Labs as one of 2014's 50 Smartest and their image as a truly global of viewers who watched satellite TV Companies, which places Ripple event. did so at least 2 to 5 hours in a day Labs among other big innovators such as Google, Uber, IBM and while the highest frequency of Snapchat. Ripple Labs has also exposure to local TV among those Can blockchain raised capital from some of the who did so, was at least one hour a leading venture capital and technology help technology firms, including Google day or even below, showing the Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, increasing attraction of pay TV in banks? LightSpeed Venture Partners, IDG Africa. Capital Partners, and Founders A f r i c a ' s f l o u r i s h i n g n e t w o r k Fund. Although Ripple Labs is environment offers a fertile ground for growing, it is still a startup. Also, more people watched satellite cryptocurrency as a means of TV everyday than those who transaction, as growing numbers of As of April 2015, three banks have watched local TV daily. This shows individuals now accept to hold and publicized partnerships with Ripple pay with it, with beneficiaries that in satellite TV households, Labs. Fidor Bank, an innovative accepting it as currency. Already, German bank, is the only bank using viewers watched more satellite TV regulators are concerned of the Ripple in production. The often- than local TV. untoward effect, especially the likely named benefit of reduced fees indelible underground economies, a becomes immediately visible, as “To watch high-quality productions” worry way beyond mere laundering of they ask a fee of €0,50, instead of drug money. normally €5,00 for a cross-border was major reason why many viewers money transfer. Algeria’s National Space Plan Horizon 2020 Horizon 2020 Algeria on the move

their applications, In 2006, Algeria founded her National imagery from all the satellites, not just Space Plan code named, Horizon their own, and can transmit commands to their own spacecraft ASAL's main executive element is 2020, focusing on natural resources, the Centre National des Techniques forecasting and monitoring of natural through other DMC member States' control facilities. Spatiales (CNTS or CTS), which is disasters, land management and responsible for the execution of the infrastructure studies. The plan is Thus, each gets access to five satellites for the price of one. With national research programme in conceived and implemented by the these spheres, in accordance with Algerian Space Agency (ASAL). The this, coordination and distribution services for the DMC are provided by national needs regarding such telecommunications and positioning matters as water resources, system are part of the Space Plan as SSTL subsidiary DMC Imaging International (DMCii). agriculture, telecommunications, well. transport, and the environment, besides others. The CNTS houses They are integrated in a way to The 90kg ALSAT-1 was built by SSTL, UK based company, and was the ALSAT ground receiving station. interact with local communities, for T h e C N T S h a s a h u n d r e d the set-up of early warning systems launched in November 2002 with a designed lifetime of 5 years. It researchers organised into different for natural disasters, the updating of divisions and research groups, the civil protection geographical features a 32 meter resolution imager in 3 spectral bands, with a swath width working on different projects. These database (high and very high projects are in the areas of micro- r e s o l u t i o n i m a g e r y ) , a n d of 2x300km. The satellite costs between 1.24 Billion Algerian Dinars satellite technology; space-based seismological risk maps with t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s ; s p a c e permanent GPS stations, radar (about 100 million USD)46 and 11 million USD. cartography, civil engineering, interferometry and high resolution remote sensing, amongst other imagery. Alsat-1 has dimensions of 60 cm × 60 spheres. cm × 60 cm, and is in a sun The Plan also encompasses actions The Centre des Techniques related to national cadastral mapping synchronous orbit at an altitude of 680 km. Its imaging systems cover a Spatiales currently offers courses in in urban and rural areas, to energy geodesy, instrumentation, remote and mining issues, oil and gas swath of 600 km × 560 km, and its multispectral imaging resolution is 32 sensing, GIS and space mechanics. industry, water resources, flood Algeria develops the ALSAT EO prevention, dam surveillance, land m × 32 m. Alsat-1 had a designed life of five years but it is still operational satellite programme, in cooperation u s e , l o c u s t e a r l y w a r n i n g , with UK (ALSAT-1) and France agriculture, forestry, public works, and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. (ALSAT-2). While ALSAT-2A is transportation, urban studies (in integrated by Astrium in France, the relation to disasters), and health ALSAT- 2B satellite is integrated in including population and hospitals, However, the ALSAT-2 programme covers 2 satellites, one integrated in Oran by the "Satellite Development w i t h r e s p e c t t o m a l a r i a , Centre" UDPS. The ALSAT-2 leishmaniasis and cholera risk. France, and the second integrated in Algeria. The 116 kg satellites have a programme offers 2.5 meter data in panchromatic ALSAT-3, and ALSAT- D i s a s t e r M o n i t o r i n g p a n c h r o m a t i c 2 . 5 m g r o u n d resolution, and 10m in multispectral 4 and a telecommunications Constellation DMC with four different bands. ALSAT-2A satellite, Alcomsat-1 are also in the Alsat-1 was the first of SSTL's was launched in July 2010, while planning phase. MicroSat-100 or SSTL-100 class of ALSAT-2B was also launched in 2011. According to the agency, the microsatellites, and the first in the During the entire process, 20 Algerian Alcomsat-1 programme is curreently international Disaster Management engineers were trained by Astrium at an advance stage of development Constellation (DMC) of satellites, during the integration of the ALSAT- One of the objectives of the which is a consortium currently 2A satellite. Alcomsat-1 project is to narrow the composed of Algeria, China, Nigeria, d i g i t a l d i v i d e . A l g e r i a h a s Turkey, and the UK, each of which The Algerian Space Aagency has a i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o o p e r a t i o n acquired and had launched a board of directors comprising programmes with Argentina, France, MicroSat-100 from SSTL. representatives of 15 ministries, and China, Russia, India, Ukraine, While each member country owns its a scientific board made up of experts United Kingdom, Syria, and USA. Algeria is a permanent member of own satellite, and has its own ground in space science and technology. control station, they can all access Regarding space technologies and COPUOS since 2002 South Africa South Africa harnesses its industrial potential

The South African hi-tech space industry is expanding rapidly, although there are still considerable potential for local adaptation despite achievements.

In recent years, South Africa has For instance, SunSpace has its proposes to deliver satellites made the development and origins in the SunSat satellite between 80 and 400kg, in EO, space cultivation of a domestic space p r o g r a m m e ( 6 4 k g ) o f t h e science and LEO communication industry a priority, citing the critical Stellenbosch University. The fields. The team who designed and roles science, technology, and company originated from a 1991 developed SunSat forms the core of innovation play in economic growth initiative by the Computer and Control SunSpace today. and socio-economic development. Systems Group of the electrical and South Africa established a civil space electronic engineering department of agency, the South African National the university to establish a post- The state-owned company Denel Space Agency, SANSA, by act in graduate research group in satellite Dynamics “is South Africa's 2008; the agency is now fully systems. This led to the Electronic largest single entity in defence operational. Systems Laboratory and the intake of and aerospace.” Denel was the first students in 1992. More than incorporated as a private To date, African satellites have been 100 students, in collaboration with contracted from foreign industries, company, with the state as its engineers, were involved in the sole shareholder in 1992. Denel mostly from France, UK and Russia. development of the first major project, One exception is South Africa with the SunSat satellite, and over 50 operates the Denel Overberg Sun Space and Information Masters and PhD degrees were Test Range and produces tactical Systems, and SCS-Space, South awarded during that time. missiles for export. The company African own satellites were designed has capabilities in diverse and manufactured by domestic high In February 1999 SunSat was aerospace and defense areas. tech firms. In Africa, the challenge launched by the American space has been for space-related industries agency, NASA, and the satellite Marcom Aeronautics and Space to be considered as a priority, successfully operated in space, is a Johannesburg-based especially with countries having fulfilling all mission objectives. As the many social priorities with short term company that has reported it will commitment to long-term research develop a two-stage liquid engine impact. As such, space related and development can only be industries in Africa are also sustained by commercial application launch vehicle called the competing with longer-term of space-based services, Sun Space CHEETAH-1 CSLV, designed to investments in other technological Information Systems (Pty) Ltd was deliver small payloads into orbit. spheres, such as housing, hospitals incorporated by Unistel Group The company, which also and financial systems. Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which is a markets engineering services, In South Africa, there are 74 company wholly owned by the states that it hopes to reduce the companies in the aerospace and university and which provides the cost of launch and address defence sector, 60 of them being opportunity to commercialise underserved payload markets. small medium and micro enterprises. intellectual capital developed at the university. The satellite integration facilities Space-Related Products exist from the previous South African space programme at the Institute of Sun Systems provides industrial and Services Satellite and Software Applications, design and satellite construction, and South Africa is a market for space- near Cape Town. also was awarded the Sumbandila related products and services satellite project by South Africa. It including telecommunications, television, imagery, location-based offering, SkyeMax, offering access to its strategic policy goals of services, and space tourism. So far, the Internet. developing an innovative economy the demand for remote sensing data and workforce, spending over 175 m is growing rapidly in South Africa, as South Africa's pay-TV household USD on the SKA project, including a the country viewed satellite imagery penetration rate, at 12 percent when precursor telescope, the Karoo Array as key to sustainable agriculture and additional licenses were granted in Telescope. natural resource management. In 2008, is projected to grow beyond 47 addition to being a priority in percent by 2017. In addition, MeerKAT will be one of government policy, the country has the world's largest radio telescopes had a long-standing relationship with In the meantime, two important in its own right, and is designed to be commercial providers of satellite figures in global commercial space most sensitive in the southern imagery. have strong ties to South Africa. hemisphere when complete. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, Applications of GPS technologies, as who emigrated to the United States at Like SKA, MeerKAT is an array of in most markets internationally, are age 17, was born and raised in South antennas (each 12-meters in growing at a rapid pace in South Africa. diameter), totaling 80 in full Africa, and are expected to total configuration. This does not include nearly 70 m USD. SpaceX, a launch vehicle company a 7-antenna prototype inferometer based in the United States, is aiming array. In South Africa, the demand for to substantially lower the costs and satellite telecommunications increase the reliability of space The MeerKAT program will develop services has been growing at a transportation. South Africa is also the and test many of the technologies sustained and rapid rate, driven by home of a pioneering participant in required of the SKA, including one- demand for cellular backhaul, VSAT commercial space tourism. Mark piece reflectors, single pixel enterprise networks, and direct-to- S h u t t l e w o r t h , a n I n t e r n e t wideband receivers, and cryogenic home television. entrepreneur, became the first South systems. African in space in April of 2002. His Despite its local industrial capacity, trip to the International Space Station, According to SANSA, SKA would Intelsat's New Dawn Satellite, launched via Soyuz and brokered by ultimately be based in Karoo, the launched in April of 2011 aboard an Space Adventures, cost a reported 20 same region as MeerKAT, the full Ariane 5 rocket, was financed by a m USD. SKA array would be distributed over consortium of African investors, led 3000 kilometers. About half of the b y J o h a n n e s b u r g - b a s e d Square Kilometer Array antennas would be localized in Convergence Partners. The and Karoo Array Telescope Karoo, and locations of 30 antennas consortium, additionally includes would be located in 8 other N e d b a n k , t h e I n d u s t r i a l countries, as far away as Ghana and Development Corporation of South The Square Kilometer Array is a radio Madagascar. Africa, and the African Development telescope developed by a consortium Bank, provided 90 percent of the of 20 countries that currently provide The project brings to South Africa satellite financing. an order-of-magnitude increase in the global capability for radio astronomy. r e v o l u t i o n a r y a d v a n c e s i n The name refers to the combined astronomy, the innovative IT and With the launch of Intelsat New surface area, one square kilometer of technology activities required of the Dawn, Intelsat's African fleet grew to the approximately 3,000 antennas workforce, and the external funding 22 satellites, representing a multi- that will comprise the system. that will support the project. When billion dollar investment in the region, operational in 2022-2024, SKA will with plans to launch three satellites, South Africa is one of two finalists be 50 to 100 times more sensitive Intelsat 20, Intelsat 22 and Intelsat 23 along with Australia to host the core than any other radio telescope on - in the next 10 months that will capabilities of the system. The Karoo Earth, capable of detecting the provide incremental capacity to the Array Telescope South site is in the equivalent of an airport radar on a continent. Karoo area of the Northern Cape planet 50 light years away. Province. This area is very dry, with few clouds, and its remote location It will download data at 10 times the New Dawn launched with 28 C- and global internet traffic rate, have a 26 Ku- band transponders, designed and surrounding hills minimize signal interference. The location allows a central processing power of more to offer critical communications than 1 billion PCs, and will generate infrastructure for African customers. fiber optic connection to the control center in Cape Town. more data in the first year of New Dawn's C-band antenna operation than has been generated reflector did not properly deploy after in the course of human history to that launch, reducing the satellites South Africa has invested in bringing the Square Kilometer Array project to point. The construction is estimated broadcasting payload by half. The by to cost 1.5 b EUR, with recurring s a t e l l i t e s t i l l h a s K u - b a n d the country for over ten years. The project aligns with South Africa's costs at about 100 to 150 m EUR broadcasting capability, and annually. supports a new satellite broadband desirable location for astronomy, and Editorial Coverage

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Vol 6 No 1 May 2017 endeavours of these countries and benefit from their Satellite as a Critical Infrastructure in Africa existing activities and infrastructures. Africa is one of the fastest growing markets for telecommunications and satellite services. This Vol 6 No 5 September 2017 issue will espouse the balance at the continental Military Satellite Applications level between video and telecom services, This issue will feature how modern broadband especially in North Africa where transponder usage satellite network technology is proving to be the is dominated by video services and Sub-Saharan ideal communications medium to provide the high Africa where use of satellite capacity for telecom speed voice, video and data services required by purposes is dominant. military forces to enable Network-Centric Warfare in the modern era. Vol 6 No 2 June 2017 Special feature on satellite operators Vol 6 No 6 October 2017 This issue will feature Satellite Operators as a basis Mobile Satellite Services of “solutions for Africa's communications The issue will trends, opportunities and moderate challenges, including telecommunications actors growth in this market, combined with the variety of and their relevance to social economic satellites to be launched, including the roles of development of Africa. It will also dwell on the players in the African market. experience both positive and negative of Africa in the use of Space for telecommunications. Vol 6 No 7 November 2017 Cellular Backhaul over Satellite Vol 6 No 3 July 2017 The tremendous growth of wireless devices, Assessment of emerging space including smart phones, tablets and the like, in the industry in Africa last several years has driven the need for This issue will identifies and describes the activities connectivity anywhere, anytime. This issue will of the main relevant organisations involved in the feature current trends and significant challenges in use of Space for the benefit of Africa, both African bringing connectivity to “hard-to-serve” or rural and international, including some of the major areas. issues facing Africa today and identifies opportunities for Space to contribute to solutions. Vol 6 No 8 December 2017 Satellite for disaster management Vol 6 No 4 August 2017 This issue will elaborate the value of emergency Special feature on African Continental satellite communications network for disaster Structures management, enabling first responders and Kenya has launched its "National Space government officials to establish meaningful Secretariat" as a forerunner of a National Space command and control. Agency. This issue will seek to add value to the African Satellite Communications Yearbook African Satellite Communications Yearbook

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Signed: Management Nigeria How NNPC is using satellite services

The NNPC-owned VSAT Hub can secure the corporation's data, while reducing frequent movement of staff for hitherto centralised business processing, leading to a huge reduction in OPEX, according to the corporation senior technology manager.

The Nigerian National Petroleum in contact easily with their family and As noted, the data throughput of the Corporation (NNPC) has established friends at home. The physical and first system was found grossly its first VSAT (Very Small Aperture mental wellbeing of our staff is a inadequate to support modern Terminal) network to provide primary concern to us,” he says. “For business information systems, communication link to NNPC this reason, we have to provide hence the need for a system locations not covered by the NNPC additional services, such as web upgrade, which commenced in 2013 Corporate Telecoms Network (CTN) browsing, inexpensive phone with Gilat's Sky Edge II IP based and to serve as a thin back-up services and enhanced personal e- VSAT technology to cover the 50 network for the CTN in event of any mail.” “VSAT has improved social existing locations. system failure on its transmission communication and increased T h e u p g r a d e d n e t w o r k i s backbone which consisted primarily welfare for our staff”. They are now p r o v i s i o n e d f o r v o i c e a n d of fiber optic cable (FOC) and able to make private phone calls or send b r o a d b a n d / e n t e r p r i s e d a t a microwave radio links in 1999”. SMS using their SIM card to their friends including video conferencing and families back home. They can also services using a 20MHz satellite According to the NNPC, the browse the web to read news from corporation's VSAT network was home, football results or any other news transponder bandwidth and on based on Gilat's Faraway system of their interests. Using their off-duty completion shall serve as an which supported essentially time in a more productive manner has enhanced communication platform analogue telephony of four voice become very popular amongst for interconnection of all widely circuits per station and in-band data navigators. VSAT allows crewmembers dispersed NNPC operational of very limited throughput. The initial to attend off-campus distance learning facilities –Depots, Pump-stations, network coverage extended to 45 courses through IP applications such as Oil fields and Platforms. NNPC locations inclusive of NNPC videoconferencing or IP-TV to further head office, Refineries, Pipelines & enhance their skills and academic Products Marketing Company levels while off-duty. Design of VSAT Network (PPMC), Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), In case of failure of engine or other The design of the NNPC VSAT Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and onboard equipment, chief engineers network is a star topology. To ensure offshore locations. The network onboard can set up live, on-the-spot high availability, therefore, there are remote condition-review and trouble- coverage was later extended to 5 central hubs installed with 6 Nodal shooting sessions with service Centres geographically located in other locations. The Bandwidth engineers from various manufacturers utilized then was 4MHz on Intelsat Kaduna, Lagos, NPDC, Warri, Port onshore by using two-way live video Harcourt and NGC Warri, he said. 907. “Our objective was to provide a streaming. A reliable high bandwidth comfortable and convenient Therefore, traffic from all locations connection is essential for enabling are automatically diverted to the fail- environment for our staff at any these functions, and VSAT provides a over hub should there be any major location. They must be able to keep perfect solution. fault with any of the hub. All 6 Nodal World EO Market, and 43 Remote Stations in a Mesh Zee expands in Africa Configuration with each other. A technology and satellite transponder in orbit with Mali DTT launch defense driven deployed by a satellite service provider such as INTELSAT IS23 Zee Entertainment Enterprises Worldwide, the satellite-based EO facilitates the communication sector is divided into two main parts: between earth stations with a Limited (ZEEL) is moving into Mali, launching its Zee Magic and Zee c o m m e r c i a l , a n d t h e bandwidth of 20MHz is used to government/military. For the support the network. The satellite Cinema channels on digital terrestrial commercial market, it is made up of transponders provide VSAT TV network TNTSAT Africa. organizations offering EO data interconnectivity to earth stations The move is part of a wider push by and/or value-added-services (VAS) located at different points of the earth on an open market. where the satellite has footprint). Zee into the African market, with Zee Bollymovies – an English-dubbed On the other hand, the governmental People in many industries The VSAT Hub provides a minimum Bollywood movie channel for the African market – also expanding its and military part of the sector throughput of 5Mbps and 2Mbps on consists of EO satellites whose the outbound and inbound channels reach by launching on DTH platform look at technology as a black DStv. data is not offered in the market. The respectively to our various worldwide EO market shows communication nodes, to support a “Zee will be making further inroads constant growth year-after-year. In box, they don't focus much on m y r i a d o f N N P C b u s i n e s s into the vast continent of Africa with 2010, it reached an estimated $900 processes. our entry into the French-speaking million for data and $1.2B for value- the technical details. So the country of Mali,” said Amit Goenka, added-services (VAS). While private The Nodal Stations process more CEO, international broadcast company results for the full year data because they serve as the traffic business, Zee Entertainment 2011 are not released yet, the first challenge is in understanding interface for other NNPC locations in Enterprises Limited. three quarters were very promising. the various zones to the hub in Abuja “Sharing our existing channels, Zee customers' needs and the The Remote Stations carry relatively Magic and Zee Cinema with new The market is largely driven by lighter voice and data traffic on a audiences is a huge achievement for orders from governments and combined data rate of 2Mbps on the us and we thank TNTSAT for allowing military organizations. Overall, common related industry outbound and 1Mbps on the inbound us to bring the best of Bollywood to all commercial EO satellite operators channels. their viewers in Mali.” are reporting data revenues coming challenges and accordingly Harish Goyal, CEO of Zee TV Africa at more than 75% from these There are plans to expand this customers. network to all NNPC operational sites added: “In another major deal, within positioning our solutions. just four weeks of its launch, our 24- to extend coverage to over 300 The biggest contract in EO is locations. hour dedicated English-dubbed Bollywood movie channel, Zee “Enhanced View” from the U.S. Bollymovies will now be available on National Geospatial-Intelligence In 1999, the Nigerian National Agency (NGA). It started in 2010 and Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) DStv, the largest DTH platform in Sub- Saharan Africa. will last for 10 years with a total value commenced a change management of more than $7.5 billion programme to positioned it to for the delivery of EO data (imagery), discharge its mandate with the goals “ZEE has already witnessed VAS and contributions to the of ensuring efficient service delivery tremendous success over the past construction of a satellite. When a n d s a f e g u a r d i n g c r i t i c a l two years on DStv with Zee World, its assessing EO, it is traditional to infrastructure, promoting a sound oil E n g l i s h - d u b b e d G e n e r a l separate resolution into high, and gas industry. Entertainment channel and with the medium, and low and instruments in addition of Zee Bollymovies on this either optical or radar. The optical This programme was anchored on platform, we hope to further raise the segment represents the vast the redesign of the business level of entertainment for our majority of revenues, and there is an processes and deployment of dedicated viewers.” ongoing race towards the higher a p p r o p r i a t e t e c h n o l o g y resolution. The sub-meter optical infrastructure to support the business imagery market represented around p r o c e s s e s . T h e r e d e s i g n e d ZEEL launched two new channels, 60% of the total market in 2010. processes gave rise to the need to Zee Bollymovies and Zee Bollynova, Procurement of an EO satellite being integrate and centralise the on a new Africa pay TV network capital intensive and thus requiring operations of the corporation. For Kwese TV in January.. French- strong financial backing, the EO data instance, NNPC business units dubbed general entertainment market is markedly concentrated. maintained their independent channel Zee Magic first went live in Three satellites operators possess database of their transactions and October 2015 while Zee Cinema is a more than 70% of the market: only made return to the Head Office 24-hour Hindi Bollywood Movie GeoEye (USA), DigitalGlobe (USA) at the end of the business day for channel catering to South Asians on and Astrium GIS (Europe). consolidation. the continent. European Space Agency Brexit and the future of European Space Industry

A century ago, UK was the commonwealth industrial powerhouse. Today, the economy has become service driven, with the downstream sector accounting for 80% of total space revenues. UKSA's investment in space has often been targeted at areas that have the greatest potential for delivering economic benefits, especially scientific excellence and national security, while European Space Agency programs and Public Private Partnership projects are preferred schemes. However, owing to its newly formed status, pending strategy and the country's economic context, uncertainties persist as to its future funding in the near term, according to reports

In Europe, space is at the service of developed. Furthermore, unlike the radio spectrum. every citizen. Many of the systems US, Europe's downstream satellite Europe needs to position itself in the and services that are today essential navigation and Earth observation emerging markets for navigation for the well-being of Europeans and markets are only now emerging. and Earth observation applications, security depend directly or indirectly services and products. These on space. In an international context, the service industries have a high funding of European R&D is potential for growth and job Without being aware, European relatively small. For instance, creation. As for European Satellite citizens rely on space technologies approximately 25% of the US civil navigation, it is estimated that when they use their mobile phones, space budget is spent on R&D. related EU programmes Galileo and make financial transactions, take an Furthermore, expressed per capita, EGNOS will generate socio- airplane, watch the weather forecast NASA's civil budget alone is economic benefits for around €60- or look for the nearest restaurant approximately four times bigger than 90 billion over the next 20 years. using their cars' navigation system. the combined European civil space Space has become part of Europe's budgets. The European institutional As regards Satellite Earth daily lives. market is relatively small – each year, Observation, the benefits from the the US budget was almost 10 times EU's Copernicus programme are Europe's space industry is a driver higher than the European budget – estimated at almost €35 billion by for growth and innovation and a and very fragmented, due to the 2030, comparable to 0.2% of the highly strategic sector, helping to diversity of public stakeholders and E U ' s G D P. H o w e v e r, t h e face both societal challenges and their different and not always development of the European create innovative technologies and coordinated industrial policies. satellite-based services industry is services. currently challenged by the existing The satellite communications r e g u l a t o r y f r a m e w o r k a n d In terms of commerce, space has industry is instrumental in sustaining insufficient support to start-up become a global business. the entire European space industry. companies which are at the heart of However, the European space This segment's sales account for s e r v i c e s a n d a p p l i c a t i o n s sector is increasingly under more than 60% of the European development. pressure from industries in new space manufacturing industry over emerging space powers such as the last ten years. Although Europe To address these challenges, India and China. Its budget is can count on a world-class SatCom E u r o p e s h o u l d a c h i e v e smaller, it relies more on commercial industry, this sector faces not only technological non-dependence, sales, the part of military expenses is increasing global competition but security of supply and maintain smaller, and synergies between civil also technical and political independent access to space. and defence sectors are far less challenges due to the scarcity of the The EU needs to ensure cost- efficiency and competitiveness at industry to maintain and strengthen contingency instruments. Existing global level, while boosting the its position on the commercial financial products might not match development of state of the art skills market. However, major non-EU these needs. The Commission and competencies. It also need to countries' institutional markets are therefore proposes to explore address space industry issues in a not accessible to European industry. possibilities to facilitate access to global and consistent manner. As international cooperation could finance, especially by SMEs, by also serve as a market opener, the promoting the further development As at now, more than half of the EU is ensuring that space is of innovative financial instruments turnover of the European space integrated into the Union's external and the use of the existing industry depends on the commercial policy. instruments, encourage Member market. However, the space market States and regions to increase the does not follow the classical rules of EU is currently supporting an use of structural funds and competition as the sector is highly awareness raising campaigns to innovative financial instruments to subsidized worldwide. The EU make possible users - cities, regions, promote the development of therefore need to strive to ensure various industrial sectors, especially innovative satellite-based services that its industry is on an equal aware of the potential of space- by SMEs and ensure the rapid footing with its global competitors based applications, generate interest extension of the scope of the EU and that it has the skills and in such applications and facilitate this project bond initiative to space technologies required to maintain with ad hoc take up actions. infrastructures. the level of excellence achieved Enable advances in space today. To remain competitive, the T h e N a t i o n a l s p a c e European space sector needs a technologies European industrial policy that takes industry into account all the challenges the The EU still intends to boost industry faces. The UK economy has developed to technological progress in strategic become service driven, with the areas and to contribute to the downstream sector accounting for The EU will be one of the largest necessary effort in space research, in institutional clients for the European 80% of total space revenues. The p a r t i c u l a r i n b r e a k t h r o u g h space industry grew around 9% per space industry over the next 10 technologies. Key Enabling years. Our policy choices could year in the UK prior to the economic Technologies (KET) have been crisis. either strengthen or weaken our recognized as central to all industry. Implementing an industrial t e c h n o l o g i c a l i n d u s t r i a l Over 260 companies are actively policy for the space sector allows the competitiveness in Horizon 2020, but definition of a clear line of action in involved in the space industry, with also in particular to innovative space the South East region concentrating the service of our growth, our jobs technologies. and our people. >90% of the employment. Astrium Ltd's has 2 sites especially in The space industrial policy should Portsmouth and Stevenage both In Europe, the expansion of space therefore support KET uptake in new activities, notably the development accounting for over 60% of all jobs. space technologies, by increasing The spacecraft and satellite of the commercial market, could space research efforts, in particular raise legal issues which are not fully equipment sector appears more in breakthrough technologies, fragile and limited, despite being addressed at European level such supporting the development of as: obligation for insurance, connected to the commercial and alternative technologies to those of export world and comprising leading registration and authorisation of competitors as well as promoting space activities and services, contractors, particularly the EADS R&D support to industry and space Group. sanctions, and environmental research organisations, including the issues. downstream service sector and To remain competitive, EU needs to There is also a large active industrial support the development of presence involved in support keep and expand its own resources, a p p l i c a t i o n - o r i e n t e d R & D develop new skills to meet the need services such as Logica, Serco, programmes at universities related to Vega, SciSys, and satcom services of emerging sectors and attract space technologies and promote the talent from non-EU countries: in the class of Inmarsat, and Avanti.. transition from prototyping to product The UK space industry is also strong It had to continue to support the and market development of appropriate skills in the ground segment market required specifically by the space a l t h o u g h i t r e m a i n s h i g h l y dependent on ESA and domestic s e c t o r , a n d p r o m o t e t h e Expanding the array and use of e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f m u t u a l l y military space programs. Industry available financial instruments policy. recognised academic space Given their associated risks, large qualifications in Europe. scale space infrastructures need According to UKSA, expenditure on large financial contributions over Enhance the EU's appeal to space activities are essentially long periods, continuity of funding driven by European program foreign researchers. both for operational and financial It is vital for the European space funding, with UKSA reaffirming its reasons and flexibility as well as commitment to ESA at over twice national levels of civil expenditures. Development to deliver customized Startimes growing Space science including technology innovative solutions. at civil level and exploration has often steadily being ESA-driven have both Funding strategy witnessed 10% growth over the past After a 15-year period of overall StarTimes is a Technology company 5 years, driven by the NSTS, into stability, at around £250-350m per that was established in 1988 in developing technology especially year, the UK's investment in space China. Our company is the pioneer robotics & instruments for ESA started to rise in 2005 under the and key player in digital television missions, as well as related services combined effect of increasing ESA solution in China and Africa, where and applications. investments and the next round of we have acquired over 7 million long term stable defense program subscribers. We are currently Earth Observation, EO and GMES financing. operating in 9 African Countries, participation amounts to €153million Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, over 2010-2014 and comprises over Since then, space expenditures have Uganda, Guinea, Central African 1000 jobs while national EO experienced significant growth (+23% Republic, Burundi, Mozambique instrumentation and excellence in 6 years) reaching £462million in and we are working on providing our centres are set to continue at a lower, 2011, split between civil (70%) and network all over Africa. However, our yet stable, level. Additionally, defense (30%). This growth is mostly operation in Nigeria is a joint venture contributions to EUMETSAT usually related to a continued drive by BNSC with the Nigerian Television channeled through the Met Office, to help SMEs take part in ESA Authority (NTA) and our products constitutes a key ongoing priority. missions - deemed a more efficient offerings include Digital Television Satcom is essentially driven by the way to gain a return on investment. Sets and decoders to serve the long term military Skynet system, masses of Nigeria. Indeed, our providing essential services beyond UKSA's investment in space has corporate vision is to provide every 2020. ESA ARTES research and been targeted at areas that have the African family with access to Quality development, R&D involvement greatest potential for delivering Digital TV at an affordable rate. ensures UK industry retains high- economic benefits, scientific tech strengths and that benefits can excellence and national security. ESA According to its Chief executive, be generated to serve UK society programs and PPPs projects are Joshua Wang, “We have deployed a needs in bridging digital divide. preferred schemes. However, owing unique technology that allows our to its newly formed status, pending Decoder to be offered to subscribers UKSA programs strategy and the country's economic at an affordable price”. StarTimes The main priorities over the past context, uncertainties persist as to its decoder operates based on the DVB- decade and as of today are future funding in the near term,. T (Digital Video Broadcast- predominantly space science and Terrestrial) standard which requires technology, and to assist national Challenges no dish. All that is needed is an industry in maximising business ESA programmes have always been antenna, to pick up the transmission opportunities, based on Euroconsult the primary area of funding, They signal. Based on its unique report. Space science and received even increasing allocations technology, StarTimes decoder is all exploration: besides a planned over time as per the national S&T weather friendly, including rainy national lunar mission, UKSA is strategies. The establishment of the days. Also with its unique plug and bilaterally involved in Bepi Columbo dedicated ESA Science & Innovation play device mechanism, no and the Indian lunar mission. centre have skyrocketed UK space p r o f e s s i o n a l a s s i s t a n c e o r sector expenditure over the past few installation cost is required. Technology: growing interest years, estimated to approximately channeled through a new Space double from £130million. StarTimes is here is to make Innovation Centre (ISIC) and new Nigerians happy especially the applications, especially the National civil funding stagnated at masses who have not had access to miniaturisation and launch vehicles. around £60m until the start of the decoders because of the high price. Earth observation: sustaining economic crisis, dipping 25% over 3 And StarTimes is working and I expertise for building Earth years until the creation of the new suppose other players in the industry Observation satellites via SSTL, agency. UKSA's creation is expected are serving too else they would have maintaining international standing to revert this trend, with up to £100 folded up business. including through developing million but may have becomes Based on our Marketing plan, PHCN expertise centres in support of hampered by the ongoing reduction of (Nepa) is the only factor that may environment and climate change public expenditure related to the hinder the growth because initiatives at the National Centre for economic crisis. Defense spending customers are already complaining Earth Observation. Satcom: has been largely influenced by the about power outages most of the u p s t r e a m a n d d o w n s t r e a m development phases of the military time. That we can't deal with since technology-driven activities are satellite communications system, the power sector is not in our hands, driven by the NSTS, banking on Skynet. say Joshua Wang. consistent levels of Research and Short news

RASCOMSTAR provide national and international a path of continuous growth. The connectivity to supplement existing deployment of third-generation connects Al Kufrah - licence holding telecom operator services and the launch of low-cost Libya again networks, which are currently Internet service have led to focussed on serving the coastal increased demand for data regions, large cities and dense communication services. At the initial In Libya, terrestrial telecom links have conurbation areas. stage, the landing of fiber optics in been cut for several months between Africa led to a passage from satellite Tripoli and Alkufrah that prevent the Africa, still a services to fiber-based services. citizens to have access to the Internet. Fiber optic cable is increasingly In order to establish a new window of new available for wide bandwidth transmission link between the 2 cities, networks in Africa and competitive LTT selected RascomStar to design growth issues often involve tradeoffs among and implement a high throughput price, various features and customer satellite link in order to connect again needs for specialized services or I n A f r i c a , t h e m a r k e t f o r Alkufrah to the Internet backbone. A technologies. proof of concept confirmed that the communications network products and services experienced growth link could reach 80 Mbps data speed The falling prices led to an increase during the late 1990s, through 2000 in a very cost effective way. Thanks to in the demand for international data and a slowdown in the decades RascomStar pan African satellite and c o m m u n i c a t i o n s . “ I n f o r m a ” ahead, which was largely caused by Newtec highly efficient modems, LTT estimates that the increase in the recession in the global economy is now able to provide again demand for data communication a n d a r e d u c t i o n o f broadband services to its customers services especially in inland telecommunications business in in Alkufrah. countries generates an increase in particular. However, when the demand for both satellite services economy improves, the market for and fiber-based services. RascomStar was incorporated and communications network products registered as a private company will continue to grow. under the laws of Mauritius in 2002, The fibers reaching all coastal states in Africa created a wave of with a commitment from our D e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e disconnections from satellite shareholders; LAIP (Libyan Africa telecommunications market in the services (this process has passed its Investment Portfolio) a leading past ten years has led to the growth of apex). The first fiber landed in Africa investor in vital African infrastructure; a range of alternative technologies in 2001. And from 2009 until today Rascom (Regional African Satellite such as switched digital networks, another 8 fibers landed -established Communication Organisation) an which are referred to as ISDN service, t h r o u g h c o n s o r t i a o f intergovernmental organisation DSL, cable modems, frame relay telecommunications companies, representing all African nations, and wireless technologies, cellular data according to TeleGeography. There TAS (Thales Alenia Space) a world services, as well as VSAT-based are two fibers on the east coast, and i n n o v a t o r i n s a t e l l i t e a n d systems. telecommunication systems, to the rest are on the west coast of the continent. Based on report from deliver this stated vision. All of these technologies enable high- “TeleGeography” the growth in speed access to the Internet in d e m a n d f o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l various forms that allows for the According to the management, the communication in Africa is the transfer of data at various speeds as company's origins was born from a h i g h e s t i n t h e w o r l d . well as telephony with advanced simple shared vision of our “TeleGeography” estimates that in services. Despite a slowdown in the shareholders - to bring the economic 2012-2019 growth in demand is telecommunications market in the a n d s o c i a l b e n e f i t s o f expected to be about 50% per past few years, the growth in the use telecommunications to the thousands annum. of VSATs has been strong and of rural communities living in the At Gilat, we are targeting areas consistent. We have continued to heartlands of Africa. There are where it is difficult to provide service provide VSAT communication millions of people with no access to, or through fiber, such as cellular solutions to each of the following three are simply underserved due to, the companies (additional services), expanding markets: Enterprise, scarcity of telecommunications development of innovative satellite Telephony and Broadband and infrastructure that exists in the rural services and providing service on Internet access to small businesses, areas of the continent. fiber. To remain competitive in the small medium enterprises or, SMEs, Africa's network communications SoHo and consumer markets. market, Gilat anticipate changes in Our remit is to design, develop and technology and industry standards facilitate the construction and Competition from other and develop and introduce new deployment of a pan-African satellite platforms products, applications and services, telecommunications infrastructure, as well as enhancements to our capable of extending voice and data According to World Bank data, the existing products, applications and services to off-the-grid regions on the communications market in Africa is on services. continent. In so doing, we shall