Telkom, Vodacom Business, and Vox Telecom have recently launched satellite based broadband products to offer connectivity to farming and other rural communities.
Rural communities have been struggling to get access to affordable communications, which is aggravated by cable theft which disrupts Telkom’s telecoms services.
Vodacom Business and Agri SA announced this week that they have partnered to provide satellite based communication solutions to Agri SA’s members and the wider rural community.
“By partnering with Agri SA we will have the opportunity to bring Vodacom’s satellite based voice and data solutions to the rural community, including Agri SA members,” said Chris Lazarus, Managing Executive, Vodacom Business Services.
Telkom also unveiled their new SpaceStream Home product this week (30 July 2012). This product is an IP-based communication solution making use of the latest satellite technology.
SpaceStream Home offers Internet access with a download rate of up to 512kbps, and either one or two Voice over IP telephony lines per single deployment. Currently a monthly bandwidth cap of 1 Gigabyte is linked to the Internet service.
“SpaceStream Home is an entry level product designed to deliver voice and Internet services to areas with unreliable or no terrestrial infrastructure. It is an especially compelling offer for our customers in rural areas that have been repeatedly hit by cable theft,” said Steve Lewis, Telkom’s Managing Executive of Product House.
YahClick satellite service
In May 2012, Vox Telecom announced their YahClick service – an affordable and fast satellite based broadband product.
Vox Telecom spokesperson Clayton Timcke said that everything is on track for the commercial launch of the new YahClick service.
“We have already trained 75 installers from around the country, with another 25 completing their training this week,” said Timcke.
“There’s a very strong signal in SA, which is great news, and we start rolling out to our first phase of customers tomorrow. Due to logistics, training and testing, it will take the rest of this year before we install at full capacity.”
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