Africa

Arabsat announced on 20 May 2019 that Canal Algerie is now available on Arabsat-5C, the leading Arabic satellite platform for Direct-To-Home (DTH) services over Africa.

Avanti Communications, a leading provider of satellite data communications services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has signed a long term bandwidth contract with the Turkish communications satellite operator Turksat.

According to Joseph Ibeh of Space in Africa, the Government of Senegal is set to grow the nation’s capability in the development of small satellites and space applications following a recommendation resulting from national consultations on the future of higher education in the prominent West African country.

The maiden flight of Ariane 6 will see the new vehicle carrying OneWeb satellites that will build out the company’s new global, high-speed, low latency satellite-based network designed to address the most demanding global connectivity challenges worldwide. Ariane 6 will be available to OneWeb from the second half of 2020 …

SGAC and the Malisetti Foundation are proud to announce that Senjuti Mallick will be sponsored to attend the 8th Space Generation Fusion Forum (5 – 8 April, 2019), and the 35th Space Symposium (8 – 12 April, 2019).

NSR’s In-Orbit Servicing Markets, 2nd Edition (IoSM2) report forecasts $4.5 billion in cumulative revenues from In-Orbit Satellite Services by 2028. While growth is anticipated across all applications in all orbits, GEO satellite life extension will yield the largest share of revenues.

OneWeb has secured its largest fundraising round to date with the successful raise of $1.25 billion in new capital. This brings the total funds raised to $3.4 billion. This round was led by SoftBank Group Corp., Grupo Salinas, Qualcomm Technologies Inc., and the Government of Rwanda.

The Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology (HRST) at the African Union Commission, Professor Sarah Anayang Agbor, has held bilateral talks with the French Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Frédérique Vidal, on enhancing cooperation on space, education, science and technology between France and the African Union Commission.

President Emmanuel Macron paid state visits to Ethiopia on 13 March 2019 and Kenya on 14 March 2019. Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall was part of the delegation, reflecting the development of space cooperation between France and Africa supported by the agency, notably in the fields of applications and new technologies.

Viewers in the Republic of Benin are now receiving 15 new Free-to-Air (FTA) channels from satellite, thanks to a new agreement the Government of the Republic of Benin has signed with SES, the world’s leading satellite-based solutions provider.