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Kacific inks
five year satellite
broadband agreement with
Solomon Telekom Company
Limited
13
August 2014
Kacific Broadband
Satellites has signed a
five year Framework
Services Agreement with
Solomon Telekom Company
to provide high speed
bandwidth to the people
of the Solomon Islands.
The multi-million dollar
agreement almost doubles
the bandwidth available
to Solomon Telekom and
will provide high speed
internet coverage to
even the most remote
locations in the island
group.
Five
high capacity beams
directed from Kacific’s
Ka-band High Throughput
Satellite (HTS) will
provide coverage to
every one of the many
islands that comprise
the group. Despite
approximately 1,500
kilometres separating
the westernmost and
easternmost islands, the
high power Kacific
coverage will provide
all with equally
outstanding service
quality through
inexpensive terminals.
Coverage will extend
from Choiseul and the
Shortland Islands in the
far west and north-west,
all the way to the most
northern atoll, Ontong
Java, to the most
eastern remote atolls of
Tikopia and the Duff
Islands and to the
Rennell Bellona Islands
in the south.
Kacific will provide
Solomon Telekom with a
minimum of 150 Mbps of
bandwidth from 2017
until 2022. Under the
agreement Solomon
Telekom can, at its
discretion, increase
bandwidth in bursts of
up to 50 percent at any
time to 225 Mbps of
capacity. Solomon
Telekom currently has
200 Mbps of capacity.
Each
beam will have a
footprint approximately
500-600 km wide, and
together they will
entirely cover the
nearly 30,000 km2
of land in the Solomons.
Kacific uses a very
simple, validated and
streamlined satellite
technology so that all
islands in the group
receive unrivalled
satellite power for
customers to operate at
high throughput speeds
using only a small (75cm
to 1.2m diameter)
inexpensive terminal.
Kacific offers a
solution adapted to the
Pacific nations that
will be optimised to the
Solomon Islands topology
to ensure a predictable
and affordable service
with ample room to grow
and expand.
“This
agreement will serve the
needs of the Solomon
Islands well into the
future,” says Solomon
Telekom CEO, Loyley
Ngira. “Ours is a
challenging case: we
have many sparsely
populated islands spread
over a wide geographic
area and few places
outside Honiara have
broadband access at
present. Kacific’s
satellite solution will
make broadband available
to the entire
population. Because it
uses affordable
easy-to-install
terminals, the service
can be deployed quickly,
easily (without
engineers) and at low
cost.
“Other solutions – like
3G networks and
submarine cable – are
comparatively expensive
from the perspective of
consumer access and
provide only limited
coverage. This is a
perfect fit for the
Solomon Islands,” says
Mr Ngira. “We believe it
will have a positive
impact on tourism,
education, healthcare,
emergency services
government services and
economic growth and lead
to significant
improvements in service
delivery in all these
sectors.”
The
Solomon Islands has a
population of around
600,000. The nation
faces particularly
onerous environmental
and economic challenges
and is subject to
cyclones, tsunamis and
earthquakes. Currently
demand for broadband is
suppressed as limited
access and high costs of
service inhibit uptake
of digital technologies.
Despite all those
challenges, the Solomon
Islands has tripled its
GDP in the last 10 years
and the economy
continues growing.
Providing
universal access to
broadband is the natural
next step to unleash the
potential of this
promising nation.
“Having a universally
available communications
infrastructure will help
justify investment in
other forms of
infrastructure and
industry,” adds Mr
Ngira. “Kacific’s
services will help lift
the economic performance
of the entire nation.”
“This
agreement will see
Kacific provide an
affordable, universally
accessible national
broadband service to a
multi-island nation
where other technologies
have struggled,” says
Kacific CEO, Christian
Patouraux. “Solomon
Telekom’s commitment is
a confirmation of our
unique value proposition
in supplying affordable
high speed broadband to
dispersed islands and
populations. There is
today simply no
alternative to Kacific’s
proposed access, speed
and affordability in the
Pacific. On the other
hand, this agreement is
also a demonstration of
the remarkable vision of
Solomon Telekom. It will
improve every level of
society, enhance
business exchanges,
propel every corner of
the nation into the same
digital age as the most
connected nations,
reduce gender
inequality, improve
social cohesion, promote
the export and survival
of Solomon Islands rich
cultural heritage, and
help prepare and protect
the country against many
natural dangers that are
common in this part of
the world.
“The
Pacific is in dire need
of connectivity. Kacific
believes it is not the
time to use the Pacific
as a test-bed for new or
experimental
technologies. Fully
proven technologies like
those Kacific is
offering are perfectly
predictable and
reliable. Making a
direct high-speed
internet connection
available to every
government agency,
institution, business
and family in the
footprint area will
place the Solomons in a
leadership position
amongst Pacific nations
in terms of providing
universal broadband
access.”
Kacific expects to
launch its Kacific-1
satellite by early 2017
and to provide
operational service
shortly thereafter. From
the moment the satellite
is commissioned, all
Solomon Islanders will
be able to receive
coverage using only a
small, low cost dish
antenna. Overnight every
school, village, clinic,
shop, business and
dwelling in the country
will have access to a
fast, affordable,
national broadband
network.
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