Orange and Eutelsat to Provide Satellite Broadband in Africa

Orange and Eutelsat partnered to provide satellite broadband connectivity across isolated areas of Africa and the Middle East. The service will use Eutelsat’s geostationary Earth orbit Konnect satellite, with Jordan, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of Congo as initial targets.

Orange stated the service would deliver data rates of up to 100Mb/s, along with complying with national regulations. In a briefing, Orange Wholesale CEO Michael Trabbia said he is a big supporter of satellite, where it makes sense. “In Africa, it can make a lot of sense. Even if we are investing a lot to expand our network, there are still some significant parts of the territory that are not covered.”

Trabbia cautioned that satellite-based services are not a panacea for all problems, with congestion possible in areas with large concentrations of users. He identified opportunities to employ satellites for mobile backhaul in remote areas of Africa that do not have fiber and also in the maritime sector. “I just don’t want people to consider it a magic solution and that we don’t need a terrestrial network anymore, because it’s not a reality.”

Trabbia said spectrum sharing by European countries is complex because there are several countries, and several operators, each running a spectrum. “If you want to do the same thing with telco spectrum, it would be a nightmare, because you will have interferences and you will have a lot of restrictions. We believe we need to think about alternatives to consider this kind of service in Europe.”

Orange is a member of IRIS2, the European Union's effort to build a satellite constellation. Trabbia said it is a long-term project with services likely to launch in 2030. “We need to first design, then build, launch, and operate. IRIS2 is interesting because it will embed 5G from the start.”