02 July 2021

Mauritius became the latest African country to have a presence in space, following the successful launch of a CubeSat – MIR-SAT1 on board the SpaceX Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA.

MIR SAT, which stands for Mauritius Imagery and Radiotelecommunication Satellite, is a nano satellite (a term reserved for any satellite with a mass from 1kg-10kg. Once it is deployed and begins orbiting Earth, the ground station at the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) in Ebene will be able to contact it a few times a day.

Data the MRIC receives will help the Indian Ocean nation with disaster management and prevention. The ground station will also allow the receipt of data and telemetry from other satellites.

02 July 2021

Intelsat has partnered with local business HCI to deploy its Intelsat CellBackhaul service from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Out of the more than 49 million people that live in remote or rural regions of DRC, more than 32 million live in an area without a minimum of 3G.

“With an increasing number of businesses and people relying on internet access to operate, communicate or access education or health services, connectivity is not just an option anymore -- it’s a necessity,” Nathan Dahan, country manager, DRC, Intelsat told Southern African Wireless Communications. “At Intelsat, we’re continuously working on developing and implementing new ways to address the need for broadband and mobile connectivity. With Intelsat CellBackhaul, Mobile Network Operators in the DRC overcome the technical and economic challenges often associated with traditional, terrestrial backhaul deployments for rural coverage. They can quickly and efficiently expand their coverage - even in the most remote areas.”