Trapped in a satellite impasse
The sky-based systems are under no pressure from rival terrestrial technologies because of Africa’s paucity of fibre optic cables and profiteering by cable company owners.
UK-based consultancy Balancing Act says sub-Saharan Africa has seen a fourfold rise in international internet bandwidth supplied by satellite in the past four years, with 71 satellites covering the continent and seven more being planned.
What makes satellites essential is that the proposed $300m Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) fibre cable to link Africa’s east coast to the world will not be ready until 2008.
A second problem is that bandwidth is too expensive on Africa’s only existing submarine fibre link, the Sat3 cable.
At the moment, 80% of voice and data traffic is carried by satellite, with 20% carried on Sat3. Future price cuts on Sat3 should see that grow to 30%, still leaving Africa hugely dependent on satellites, says Balancing Act.
Sat3’s high price forces one of its owners, Namibia Telecom, to send 60% of its voice traffic via satellite as it can only access the cable by paying to use Telkom’s landing station in SA.
The consortium of telecommunications operators and governments behind the proposed 9900km EASSy cable have promised that its bandwidth will be more affordable. This will force Sat3 owners to cut costs to remain competitive, but that is far into the future.
Balancing Act is one of several development agencies lobbying for Sat3 members to drop their prices so Africans can gain faster and more affordable bandwidth.
Voice and data carriers in SA are hoping for relief once the second network operator (SNO) begins selling wholesale bandwidth on August 31.
This could cut the cost of wholesale bandwidth for South African cellular network operators, internet service providers and value-added network service providers that carry voice and data traffic for big businesses and consumers.
The largest stakeholder in SNO Telecom is India’s VSNL, which is a member of the Sat3 consortium and an investor in the satellite company Inmarsat.
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