VARIOUS: New communications satellite dedicated to Africa to reduce tariffs on the continent

45 African countries are launching their biggest ever satellite telecommunications project, with take-off of the satellite scheduled for later this year, according to the African Development Bank, which is providing 50 million US dollars in financing. The project, known as RASCOM, involves the construction and launch of an earth-orbiting satellite system to provide telecommunications services throughout Africa. According to the bank, RASCOM will provide a mechanism not only for African countries to communicate directly with other African countries without going through hubs in Europe, but will also allow millions of people in rural areas to connect to communications infrastructure for the first time. Africa has the some of the fastest growth rates of mobile telephony in the world, but costs for most forms of communications remain higher than in other regions because international calls in Africa invariably pass through Europe before being routed back into Africa. Due to a lack of investment in infrastructure over the past four to five decades, investment costs for the roll-out of terrestrial communications systems are daunting. Speaking to Reuters at the bank's head office in Tunis, Hasan Fara, Chief Investment Officer at the ADB, explained. "This is what this project is able to do. It is able to reach its community in rural areas, make those rural communities communicate with the urban centres and then African countries directly communicate with each other, without going through an area or a continent that they actually are not going to end their use or communication," he said. Due to the satellite's orbit position it will provide cover for all of Africa rather than only for parts of Africa, which is what most commercial satellites currently provide. As a result, it will provide bandwidth not only for telephony but also for radio, television and multimedia broadcast reception within countries taking part in the project, bypassing the need for broadcasters to set up expensive terrestrial systems. Hassan said the new satellite should not be seen as competition for existing operators, saying the demand for bandwidth in Africa was huge and there is plenty of scope for more capacity. "The bandwidth lease services is very much in great demand because of the growth of the region, you know. And even this and other satellites cannot beat it. Therefore, the competition is acceptable and is good, but it is not going to eliminate competition. There is a great demand, which cannot be met by this satellite alone but the most important thing that it can provide is services that current satellites do not provide," he said. According to a statement by the ADB, the RASCOM project is expected to provide a full range of telecommunications services to end users, provide complete coverage of urban and rural Africa, reduce international phone and internet connection costs, and create direct links between African countries.

ITN Source | October 18, 2007

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