Africa

Intelsat, the world's largest satellite communications provider, has signed a deal with Vodacom Business Nigeria to help bridge the digital divide throughout West Africa, expanding its enterprise broadband networks and enabling new and enhanced services throughout the region.

The U.S. military's Africa Command (USAFRICOM) has contracted with SES-owned O3B to provide commercial satellite communications to better support its widespread operations across the African continent

Patrick Nyirishema, the Director-General of the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), told a workshop on space regulations in Kigali – the capital city of Rwanda – that the small African country is looking at developing its own small communications satellite, and is also mulling the possibility of proposing a regional satellite with six other East African countries, according to a report by Africanews.space.

Kenya's first indigenously-built satellite was launched by a SpaceX Falcon-9 space launch vehicle to the International Space Station (ISS) on 2 April 2018 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite, called First Kenya University Nano Satellite-Precursor Flight (1KUNS-PF) was built by a team from the University of Nairobi, with technical assistance from staff from the University of Rome, and co-funded by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) as part of the KiboCUBE programme.

The Nigeria Communications Ltd. (NigComSat) company, the operator of the NIGCOMSAT-1R communications satellite, is set to receive U.S.$550 million equity investment from the satellite's manufacturer, China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), the Nigerian Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu told Nigerian newspaper Punch on 2

Precious Payload, the brain child of Russian entrepreneurs Andrei Rebrov and Andrey Maskimov, is aiming to transform the way in which small satellite operators secure their launches. As we heard at Satellite 2018 this year, small satellites are being hit by a launch bottleneck and are mostly reduced to piggybacking on larger satellite launches and settling for what they can get. This can impact negatively on schedules and revenues.

Struggling NigComSat is looking to Türksat to develop its satellite communications market in Africa. The Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd, NigComSat, has been talking with Turkish satellite operator, Türksat A.S., about the possibility of expanding their market across various industries to deepen services at more affordable rates.

The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) is on the verge of mounting a large expansion of its cooperative efforts with other African countries, and potentially with the European Space Agency (ESA) as well, according to the SANSA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Val Munsami in an interview with Engineering News …

With China’s Belt and Road Initiative coming under criticism, and a proposed infrastructure programme in the offing from the so-called ‘Quad’ powers of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, ThorGroup GmbH Chairman and President, Dr. John B. Sheldon, argues that the Quad powers tap the potential of their NewSpace …

Earth-i, the UK-based Earth observation company, has been awarded a grant of £2.7 million from the UK Space Agency’s (UKSA) International Partnership Programme, which supports UK space firms tackling global challenges. The grant will enable Earth-i to launch the ACCORD programme in Kenya and Rwanda. ACCORD has been specifically developed …