Page 14 - EngineerIt March 2021

ICT

Satellite broadband - a key component

in Africa's B2B connectivity mix

By Dawie de Wet, CEO of Q-KON

he media coverage received by the launch of the
Starlink internet connectivity service in South Africa
Tby Elon Musk’s SpaceX corporation, has focused
attention on this exciting technology and driven a re-
appraisal of its role in the world’s connectivity mix.
While Starlink coverage remains unconfirmed in Africa
– and therefore essentially unavailable for now – in
Q-KON’s Twoobii offering, the continent already boasts a
solution with a track record of over a decade of success in
connecting people and businesses. Twoobii leverages the
global Intelsat constellation to deliver world class service at
an excellent price point, combined with the advantages of
local termination and service delivery.
We welcome the buzz surrounding Starlink, and we
are confident that it will translate into a desire among
businesses to look closer to home for fast, reliable
satellite business broadband for facilities ranging
from lodges to mines and farms. Satellite broadband
technology has advanced in leaps and bounds over
the last decade, and we are now at the cutting-edge of The unique characteristics of broadband satellite connectivity make it
connectivity across Africa. ideally suited in the following roles:
Twoobii offers ‘off-grid’ business broadband connectivity • Primary service – Twoobii offers fixed cost billing models and
across Africa. This locally supported satellite solution has ‘available anywhere’ coverage, making it second only to fibre
been available since 2018 and has leveraged world class in terms of suitability in this role. It becomes the natural first
Intelsat technology platforms and Q-KON’s excellence in choice primary service in remote locations such as extractive or
satellite engineering, to consistently debunk the legacy agricultural sites.
myths that still occasionally crop up in conversations around • Backup service – Twoobii excels in this role due to its continent-
satellite internet. wide coverage and flexible, on-demand costing which means that
Aimed at businesses, resellers and ICT integrators, clients only pay for the data they use.
Twoobii offers consistently fast upload (3Mbps) and • High availability – Twoobii’s reliable connectivity makes it an
download (20Mbps) speeds without latency or connectivity excellent choice for applications such as point of sale (POS) and
issues. Tailormade, fixed-fee bundles allow end users to ATMs where uptime is everything.
choose their data rates and service packages. Pay-per- • SD WAN Secondary – Twoobii’s service works particularly well in
use billing adds to the cost effectiveness of Twoobii’s combination with fibre as the primary service, thanks again to its
value proposition, while ‘always-on’ connectivity delivers fixed cost billing model.
exceptional reliability. • On-demand – no other connectivity technology can match Twoobii’s
The speed of Twoobii’s broadband signal means suitability as an on-demand option for events or to provide network
that it can be used to seamlessly transmit and receive redundancy cover. Twoobii can be installed and connected with
voice, data and video, while its compatibility with solar ease, and again, the on-demand billing offers excellent value.
power sources further underlines its remote location and
sustainability credentials. Modern systems engineers are taking a more holistic view of network
Twoobii plays a vital role in connecting ‘off-grid’ architecture, and this has led to greater realisation of the ease with which
locations to existing networks via compact base units that satellite business broadband solutions like Twoobii can be integrated to
can be easily installed almost anywhere. In addition to being provide fast, reliable internet connectivity in off-grid scenarios and as a
able to operate completely independently, Twoobii has been backup to other systems. n
engineered for easy compatibility with other connectivity
systems and is proving its worth as a complementary To discover Twoobii’s satellite business broadband offering please visit:
system in multi-prong approaches. https://twoobii.com/

EngineerIT | March 2021 | 12