SA revises space programme to accelerate satellite development
14 December 2021
The South African government has initiated a review of the national space programme to accelerate the development of telecom and location satellites, according to the country’s minister of communications and digital technology.
Speaking November 22 at the 23rd Southern African Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC), held from 21 to 23 November, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said “we are currently working on accelerating the development of South African-owned satellites and are looking at ways to condense an eight to ten year project into three to four years, but this depends on access to finance, which I hope will be from telecommunications, mining, etc”.
The minister added that “companies will participate” in the project and co-finance this development. “Of course, we cannot afford to deploy a single satellite and as a government we will coordinate with South African industry and other interested investors to also deploy South African-owned low earth orbit satellites,” she added
Find out more What role will 5G play in delivering critical communications?
10 December 2021
Jason Johur, TCCA board member and chair, TCCA’s Broadband Industry Group
5G networks promise greater capabilities to critical users but further specification work is needed to ensure their unique requirements are met. A new white paper from TCCA, the global organisation for the advancement of standardised critical communications technologies, says that ultimately, 5G will enable cooperation between critical users to become more efficient and effective. As a result, the safety of first responders and the communities they protect will be enhanced.
The white paper addresses a number of key questions raised by the critical communications community on the role of 5G, including how it compares to 4G LTE, the initial use cases, the expected impacts on user operations and the likely market availability of such solutions.
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Tanzania state-owned operator drives new broadband penetration project
06 October 2021
The Tanzanian government plans to use electricity infrastructure to deploy additional internet broadband connectivity and services across the nation – a project that will be by state-owned Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation Limited (TTCL).
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has joined forces with the country’s power utility company, the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company (Tanesco) to extend broadband connectivity using Tanesco’s infrastructure (electricity poles).
It is understood that the partnership will connect ten regions to the national fibre network and expand broadband to at least 4, 449km, more than double the planned 1, 880km in the 2021/2022 financial yea
Find out more Next generation mission critical services are being defined now – it’s time to take part
04 October 2021
Chris Hogg
GCF head of 5G certification
An analysis by the Global Certification Forum (GCF) has revealed that the rate of adoption of 5G technology in mobile devices is significantly outpacing the rate at which 4G LTE was adopted in its early years. GCF is a non-profit, global, membership driven organisation. With more than 300 members from major operators, MVNOs, all major device and IoT manufacturers and the test industry, working together with key industry partners on certification programmes demanded by the market.
One of 5G’s cornerstones will be ultra-reliable low-latency communications, significant for mission critical use cases including semi-autonomous driving, and many more benefits are promised. Much of this improvement, the increases in performance and efficiency, and greater flexibility and variety of offerings, will be built upon the virtualisation of services. Here, hardware and software will be separated and commercial off-the-shelf computer systems will replace dedicated equipment proprietary to specific vendors within the telecom infrastructure.
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