AMN and Intelsat Partner
to Connect Ultra-Rural sub-Saharan Africa
October 16, 2018
Intelsat S.A. and Africa
Mobile Networks (AMN) announced that Intelsat
has made a strategic investment in AMN. The
purpose of the investment is to accelerate the
deployment of mobile connectivity to unserved
communities across multiple countries in
sub-Saharan Africa.
Given the economic and
geographic complexities of expanding mobile
connectivity to the ultra-rural areas of Africa,
many mobile network operators (MNOs) face
barriers when trying to deploy their networks to
these areas. AMN provides MNOs with a
network-as-a-service (NaaS) solution in which
AMN will fund, build and operate the ultra-rural
network for the operators. As a result, African
mobile operators will be able to extend their
coverage with minimal opex and capex risk,
enabling them to grow their subscriber and
revenue base, and better serve all their
customers.
At the core of AMN’s
solution is a low-cost, small cell solution that
is powered by a highly reliable solar-based
system which can be rapidly deployed and
installed in less than 6 hours. As part of the
long-term agreement, AMN will leverage the
power, performance and efficiencies generated by
Intelsat’s next-generation Intelsat EpicNG
high-throughput satellites (HTS), as well as the
23 Intelsat satellites covering the continent to
provide the optimal balance between coverage and
high-throughput for the enabled sites.
Once installed, the sites
will connect over the Intelsat fleet to the core
of the mobile network operator and deliver 2G
mobile services, such as GSM voice, SMS and
GPRS/EDGE packet data, with the ability to
upgrade the base stations to 3G and 4G as data
demands allow.
“The high performance,
redundancy and flexibility of Intelsat’s
satellite fleet over Africa made them an ideal
partner for us,” said Michael Darcy, AMN’s chief
executive officer. “Intelsat shares our view
that mobile coverage is not spreading quickly
enough and as such, invested in AMN’s vision of
installing a cell site in every African village.
Together, we can accelerate the deployment of
mobile connectivity and work to ensure that
communities, wherever they are located, have
equal access to high quality, sustainable and
affordable broadband connectivity.”
Jean-Philippe Gillet,
Intelsat’s vice president and general manager,
broadband, said, “Bringing mobile connectivity
to the most rural parts of Africa requires
hybrid networks and innovative business models
to truly close the business case. By investing
in and partnering with AMN, we can rapidly, and
cost effectively expand an MNO’s reach and
deliver critical connectivity to communities who
many thought were impossible to connect. We look
forward to our partnership with AMN and the
ability to deliver a network that will support
the social and economic development of
communities throughout sub-Saharan Africa.”