VSAT still a resource in Africa

The entry of fiber optic networks has led to shrinking of business in VSAT technology in Kenya. Fiber connectivity has increased internet speeds on traditional terrestrial networks to an extent of having an over capacity on the same.

High speed direct fiber to organizations has led them to invest less on VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) and concentrate more on the affordable terrestrial WAN links. VSAT has been initially used for remote weather forecasting, broadcasting etc. Well, today VSAT technology is still in business, their networks offer up to 99.4% uptime for major companies like airlines and banks.

Why organizations still depend on VSAT.

Realiabilty

Airports and the Kenya navy cannot fully relay on fiber and WIMAX connectivity due to their down time. Fiber connectivity has upto 84% of uptime; therefore it means at some point 16% of this connectivity will be down.  This latency is not allowed due to the nature of business run by these institutions.

VSAT networks are recommended for mission critical applications. When their links are down, it’s easy to troubleshoot the problem because of the nature of their laid infrastructure, the problem either lies on the sending station, the satellites or the receiving station. This compared to a fiber cut, which will take time to locate and replace the cables for the link to be up again. 

Back up to terrestial networks

Many banks in East Africa have branches in rural areas; these numerous branches connect to servers at their head offices. VSAT provides connectivity in sparsely populated rural areas where terrestrial networks like fiber are expensive to install due to the cabling involved and installation of many base stations (BTS).

In as much as banks use the terrestial networks, these lines cannot achieve 100% uptime. VSAT hence provides standby emergency back-up services. When the terrestial networks experience downtime, banks can purchase bandwith exclusively for backup then dynamically distribute them to branches experiencing a down time. VSAT provides bandwidth up to 2 mbps downlink and 512 kbps uplink high speed internet access for temporary emergency situations.

Security

Government mandate, states that its information should be carried on secure networks.

As part of Kenya’s technological evolution, the government has been working towards streamlining the voting system into a more efficient and effective electoral process. It was a successfully implementation of an electronic voter registration and voter tallying system, to cater to the Kenyan constitution referendum voting process. The system though was only on pilot stage in preparation for the 2012 general elections.

The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) needed to implement a system that would rapidly, reliably and credibly transfer data from each polling station nation-wide, to their tallying centre. Satelite communication becomes a desirable way to send this information in future elections.

Satellites support encryption of all data transmitted between two sites or multiple sites, which make the creation of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) possible. VPNs use “virtual” secure networks that are connected through public networks (like the internet) to remote sites.  With this, VSAT networks find more acceptances in government and defense connectivity because anyone who incepts the data cannot decrypt it for malicious use.

Inter-operation with other terrestrial networks i.e. WIMAX, fiber networks

Through partnerships with local terrestrial service providers, VSAT service providers are getting stronger in comprehensive network provision and management.

They can offer, for example, MPLS networks in metro areas and VSAT networks in the rural areas for the same company – both of them can inter-operate with each other acting as a single network!

An example, Alldean Satellite Networks, a Kenyan satellite service provider offering both domestic and cross-border connectivity to virtually anywhere in Africa, they have done cellular backhaul projects for major telcos in the counrty.

VSAT in Africa

In Africa, organizations are still using VSAT networks to control their operations and other services. For example Alldean networks, a local VSAT provider offers its services to local banks, the government and they were behind the set up of communication links in one of the major airport in the country.

In addition, customers can now send money directly to the mobile “wallets” of Safaricom M-PESA subscribers in Kenya from 45 countries and territories. The expansion of the service to more than 80,000 locations worldwide is based on the VSAT network communication technology.

On the 4^th – 7^th of July, 2011, the “Broadcast, Interactive, Internet and Hybrid TV in Africa” conference will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. As industry leaders from all over the world gather together to understand the latest innovations in TV, satellite remains the backbone and has a bigger foot print in TV broadcasts. This shows that the communication technology is still in business.