Page 89 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2022

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Telesat, Telefonica Global Solutions Complete Brazil’s First LEO Satellite 5G

Backhaul Demo

Telesat and Telefonica have announced the successful completion
of the first 5G Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite backhaul demonstration
in Latin America, with a Brazil-based trial. The testing campaign
was managed by Telefonica Global Solutions (TGS), the Telefonica
Group’s satellite service provider. The Telesat Phase 1 LEO satellite
Layer 2 backhaul link was connected to TGS’s 5G test environment.
Network measurements of latency, jitter and bitrate all met the
functional requirements for integration with a 5G core network.
Eloy Rodriguez Villa, SVP of Global Wholesale Customers at TGS,
commented: ‘Building on our successful LEO test with Telesat in
Europe, we were eager to evaluate the performance of the Phase 1
LEO integration with a 5G network.’

InterSAT and SES Renew Partnership to Boost Digital Inclusion in Africa

African internet provider InterSAT has renewed its agreement with opportunities across Africa by connecting the unconnected in
SES for capacity on the latter’s satellite. SES’s NSS-12 satellite, some of the continent’s most underserved locations. The digital
located at 57 degrees East, will enable InterSat to securely and access our services provide is allowing innovative solutions such
efficiently serve its government institutions and enterprises as smart agriculture and precision farming to address some of
customers. The two companies first partnered in 2010, and during the continent’s biggest challenges,” said Caroline Kamaitha, Vice
this time they have expanded reliable connectivity services across President Sales Africa at SES.
the African continent, reaching locations that have not previously
had access to telecom services and thereby reducing the digital
divide. Hanif Kassam, CEO of InterSAT said: “Together with SES,
we have helped empower entrepreneurs to grow, transform and
digitize their businesses through development of smart and
custom-made solutions throughout the continent. SES is a reliable
partner to work with, and we can always count on their support
to provide the best for our customers.” “Our partnership with
InterSAT has enabled us to pave the way for abundant digital

Gilat Selected for Satellite Backhaul in DRC

Satellite broadband service provider Gilat Satellite Networks has Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The operator in question
been selected by Intelsat to provide a satellite based cellular was not specified but is understood to be Vodacom, based on a
backhaul solution to a mobile network operator (MNO) in the previous announcement from Intelsat. According to a statement
from Gilat, the deployment featured Intelsat’s CellBackhaul
service and Gilat’s SkyEdge II-c platform and Capricorn VSATs,
with a Ku-band satellite and serves nearly 1,000 underserved and
unserved sites in rural DRC. The partnership between Intelsat and
Gilat has helped to extend connectivity to areas where terrestrial
backhaul networks are impractical, expensive or unfeasible, the
provider added. Intelsat GM and VP of Networks, Brian Jakins,
said of the project: ‘Industry-leading know-how and cost-effective
satellite technology from Gilat are key components of the solution,
significantly augmenting our ability to bring together the right
services, and expertise to provide customers an economical way
to expand coverage into remote areas with an unbeatably low total
cost of ownership.’
89 MAY-JUNE 2022