Raga Sat and Orange first in Africa to go live on O3b satellite network

O3b Networks and Raga Sat have announced Raga Sat has gone live on O3b’s unique ‘Fiber in the Sky’ satellite network. The DRC-based service provider is the first African client to be brought up on the network since it commenced commercial operations earlier in the year.

Raga Sat is a leading central African provider of satellite services, currently delivering vital connectivity across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country of more than 75 million people, including 10 million in the capital city of Kinshasa alone.

The use of O3b satellites, which are closer to the earth than conventional geostationary satellites, reduces latency, increases Internet data rates and improves voice and video quality for the user.

O3b’s next generation IP trunking solution is providing reliable international capacity in addition to offering mobile backhaul services to connect both urban hubs and rural villages to ultra-high-speed broadband at ultra low latencies and cost.

Raga Sat customers including Orange will benefit from high performance reliable connectivity over the O3b constellation. Orange launched its 3G network in the DRC in 2013 and currently has around 3 million subscribers in the country.  

Philippe Israel, managing director of, Raga Sat said: “‘We are very proud to be the first African provider to be up on the O3b network. This technology is absolutely mind-boggling, far better than anything else available in the market. The service we can offer to customers such as Orange has been vastly improved overnight. After years of disappointment, DRC consumers and businesses can now genuinely look forward to the prospect of proper connectivity.” 

Thibaut de la Barre de Nanteuil, CTIO of Orange said: “Now that Orange DRC is using RagaSat service over the O3b satellite constellation, we can provide higher speed and better performance through the Orange 3G and data networks. Orange customers can play HD video without stopping, participate in multiplayer gaming and social media and businesses can take advantage of sophisticated cloud based services. Our customers are thrilled.” 

Omar Trujillo, O3b Regional VP of Africa and LATAM said: “DRC is another example of O3b bringing high performance connectivity to under-served areas of the world. Our network provides a long-awaited technological leap in a region historically held back by its remote, land-locked location and a reliance on erratic fiber connections or expensive legacy satellite solutions.”