Intelsat: Satellite and digital fibre are complementary services

Global satellite communications provider Intelsat recently launched new satellites for Africa, providing better coverage and enabling better broadband services in the region.

ITNewsAfrica.com caught up with Flavien Bachabi, Vice President Intelsat for Africa, during the SatCom conference and exhibition in Johannesburg, to discuss the company’s new strategy on the continent and the future of satellite connectivity on the continent where undersea fibre optic cables seem to have taken over.

ITNewsAfrica.com: What is Intelsat’s strategy on the African continent, now that new satellites are being launched by the company?

Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat: We have been in Africa for more than 40 years, shaping so far the telecommunications in Africa. We are looking into providing services starting with voice, data, Internet broadband and video. What we will be doing forward is focusing on helping the African operators bring more capacity for broadband, to make this not only widely available, but also affordable.

In addition to that, we will be providing enough capacity for corporate networks. As you might know, more African countries are coming now to peace terms and rebuilding their network infrastructure like Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan. They need capacity in order to complete their communications networks and we will do that for them.

We are now in the midst of the biggest investment ever, launching eight satellites by the end of 2012, with four of them serving Africa: New Dawn, IAS 17, IAS 22 and IAS 20. All these satellites will carry voice, data, broadband and video.

This year, we are also focusing on helping South Africa and international communities in making World Cup broadcasting available worldwide. We are providing more than 700 MHz of satellite capacity spread over seven satellites, for the world to see the matches transmitted from South Africa. In addition to that, we also have a WAP-integrated network IntelsatOne, comprising of all satellites and the ground infrastructure, more than 20.000 km of fibre, teleports and points of presence. Broadcasters can use this integrated network to transmit content anywhere in the world.

ITNewsAfrica.com: How will Intelsat provide better coverage in rural and remote areas of Africa, where fibre optic connections might not always be the fastest or most affordable solution?

Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat: That is true, and this is where satellite brings its most. Satellite is used for point -to-multipoint applications and to bypass the natural barriers which you cannot do easily with fibre. With satellite, it’s easier to reach out to rural areas and this has been an advantage for mobile operators to quickly access these areas and grow and that is why mobile connectivity is such a success overall in Africa. When MTN started in Lagos, in less than one year it had over two million subscribers. Satellite TV is also widespread even in remote villages. We are working with operators to make them able to reach out to these areas, to schools, local hospitals and so on.

ITNewsAfrica.com: Can you name some of the projects Intelsat has been working on?

Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat: For example, we have a project with Mindset Network, an non-profit organisation in South Africa, that uses our satellites to broadcast educational content in rural areas, to 1,5 million households , 120 schools and 300 clinics. In Ethiopia, the project e-School uses our satellite network to connect all the rural schools, to provide them access to Internet and online libraries. Also, NEPAD’s project is to connect in the next 5 years 600 000 schools and in order to do that as fast as possible, they will use satellite transmission.

ITNewsAfrica.com: What impact will the landing of undersea fibre optic cables have on the satellite industry? Is satellite losing ground?

Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat: I think it will just be complementary, since they bring more capacity to Africa, to townships, villages and to final consumers. Fibre complements satellite and brings more faster services to the continent. It’s not a damaging relationship. There is no threat for our business, satellite makes perfect sense for some typical services, while fibre covers other services. Intelsat also uses fibre, therefore we see all undersea cables coming out not as competition, but as complementary services.

When you look at fibre, today we have seven systems, including Glo-One, SAT3, EaSSY, Seacom, which land in less than 15 Africans countries. We have 53 countries in Africa.

ITNewsAfrica.com: So is satellite a better option for landlocked African countries now?

Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat: For now, satellite is a better option in these countries and in some cases the only means. Whenever the fibre lands, it will cover the major cities and coastal cities. In Kenya, fibre lands in Mombasa, but how do you go to the other cities and villages? They will extend the fibre network in these areas, but it will take time.

ITNewsAfrica.com: In what countries served by Intelsat are satellite services prevalent?

Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat: That would be Congo DRC, with no infrastructure in the country, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone, usually countries that have been at war and their infrastructure was destroyed. Then you have countries like Sudan and Algeria where the population is scattered, so the best way is to provide satellite communications rather than bringing the cables in.

ITNewsAfrica.com: TV is turning to digital and major ICT providers have focused on bringing unified communications (data, voice, messaging, email, multimedia etc) to businesses. How is Intelsat keeping pace with these trends?

Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat: We recently launched IntelsatOne as a single source of converged data and video. We comprise everything in this one circuit. Operators like MTN Business are starting to use it to enable these unified communications services to their corporate customers. They see the value for it as they’re moving into the triple-play area and we will continue supporting various operators in giving them a platform on which they can role out multiple services for both businesses and individuals.