Telkom announces broad-band
access for Africa
Telkom has announced the introduction of broadband access
over satellite to the Internet for sub-Saharan Africa. Speaking at the
Acacia Conference on Networking Africa's future currently on at Kwa Maritane
(Pilansberg), Premanandha Gangiah, senior manager Satellite and Multi Media
told delegates that the new service would be available from the end of May
if all goes according to plan.
Telkom recently purchased a Skyblaster 360E satellite hub
station from Gilat Satellite Networks to establish a broadband
satellite-based Internet access communications network. Pilot studies have
been completed successfully and engineers are now making final adjustments
to the equipment. The new Vsat technology allows more effective sharing of
the satellite platform, making the price tag more digestible. Another
technological advancement allows for smaller dishes required at the customer
site.
This service will enable ISP's and IAP's to offer
Internet products via satellite to their consumer base. The service to ISP's
and IAP's will be offered as a "best effort" service comprising 4 distinct
packages from 64 kbps to 512 kbps.
"Demand by business and consumers across the spectrum for
broadband access technologies is spiralling as information becomes ever more
essential to daily tasks", Gangiah said. "While there are numerous access
solutions on offer that optimise terrestrial infrastructure like ISDN,
Diginet and ADSL - here is still a gap in the market for an always-on
connection to the internet with large capacity and reliability at an
affordable price that is available anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. This
product will therefore complement the existing Internet access products.
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