{"id":520239,"date":"2023-12-20T10:32:11","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T08:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=520239"},"modified":"2023-12-20T10:33:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T08:33:14","slug":"mtn-in-talks-with-starlink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wireless\/520239-mtn-in-talks-with-starlink.html","title":{"rendered":"MTN in talks with Starlink"},"content":{"rendered":"

MTN has announced<\/a><\/strong> that it is in talks with various Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband companies regarding partnerships to provide coverage in under-served areas.<\/p>\n

This includes Starlink, Lynk Global, AST SpaceMobile, and Eutelsat OneWeb.<\/p>\n

MTN Group chief technology and information officer Mazen Mrou\u00e9 said they are in talks over two distinct yet complementary LEO-based solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first employs direct-to-cellular technology to augment network access in traditionally under-served regions,\u201d Mrou\u00e9 stated.<\/p>\n

He emphasised that the technology is device-agnostic and compatible with existing mobile devices, requiring no special modifications.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second solution uses LEO satellites to provide critical fixed connectivity for enterprise customers and efficient backhaul connectivity for MTN cellular sites,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is particularly relevant in remote and rural locations, where it offers a more affordable and efficient alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrou\u00e9 said they have upcoming direct-to-cell trials with Lynk Global in South Africa and Ghana.<\/p>\n

They are also in talks with AST SpaceMobile for trials in Nigeria and South Sudan.<\/p>\n

\u201cConcurrently, there are ongoing engagements with SpaceX\u2019s Starlink, with enterprise-grade trials underway in Rwanda and Nigeria,\u201d said Mrou\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn parallel, we are advancing discussions with Eutelsat OneWeb for a planned pilot in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrou\u00e9 said they conducted a successful trial in Liberia on MTN\u2019s spectrum with Lynk Global in the remote village of Gowehn.<\/p>\n

They received a cell broadcast message on a device, illustrating the capacity to send and receive text messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe text was an initial use case; we have plans to carry out proof-of-concept trials for voice and data in some key markets,\u201d stated Mrou\u00e9.<\/p>\n

He said that while the typical financing model would be a revenue-sharing one \u2014 where the customer is MTN\u2019s and the satellite infrastructure belongs to the LEO satellite vendor \u2014 their agreements are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also collaborating with Omnispace to explore the use of S-band for satellite services to expand MTN\u2019s portfolio of wireless service in both MTN and Omnispace\u2019s markets,\u201d said Mrou\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe companies will explore combining MTN\u2019s terrestrial mobile networks with Omnispace\u2019s non-terrestrial network, leveraging 3GPP standards to service consumer mobile and enterprise IoT services.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will also consider opportunities to work together in developing and growing an ecosystem of devices and software.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrou\u00e9 said that while they are excited by the opportunity LEO networks present, most of these satellite providers will offer 4G as the mainstream technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich means that we need to continue our work to get affordable 4G devices to customers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

MTN joins Vodacom and its parent company, Vodafone, in announcing various LEO initiatives across Africa.<\/p>\n

Vodafone collaborated on the first two-way voice call<\/strong><\/a> using unmodified smartphones via AST SpaceMobile\u2019s BlueWalker 3 satellite in April.<\/p>\n

In September, Vodacom and Vodafone announced a partnership with Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper<\/strong><\/a> to bring 4G and 5G connectivity to under-serviced areas in Africa and Europe.<\/p>\n

\n

Now read: Vodacom announces big partnership with Amazon\u2019s Starlink rival<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MTN Group chief technology and information officer Mazen Mrou\u00e9 has revealed that they are discussing partnerships with Starlink, AST SpaceMobile, OneWeb, and Lynk Global.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":520241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[68138,35,81410,75202,42,91665,43596,11375,48987],"class_list":["post-520239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wireless","tag-ast-spacemobile","tag-headline","tag-lynk-global","tag-mazen-mroue","tag-mtn","tag-omnispace","tag-oneweb","tag-spacex","tag-starlink"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}