Tag Archives: Africa

A four co-primes consortium formed by Airbus and Thales Alenia Space (both in Spain and France) has been selected by Hisdesat Servicios Estratégicos S.A. (Spanish Governmental Satellite Operator) to build two SpainSAT NG satellites. Used for governmental communications, these new generation satellites will replace the existing SpainSAT and Xtar-EUR satellites. Airbus will act as lead partner of the consortium.

In the presence of Abdellatif Loudiyi, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of the National Defense Administration of Morocco, and Mr. Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Moroccan Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy, Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) and of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), gave the opening address on 24 April 2019 in Marrakesh at the GLEC 2019 Global Conference on Space for Emerging Countries (GLEC).

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.

By Blaine Curcio and Tianyi Lan China’s recently-rising space industry has caught a huge number of headlines and generated much buzz, including several articles written for this column. For good reason, this has taken many headlines. But a different type of space-related industry has seen Chinese presence abroad for some time—that is, the satellite broadcast industry.

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 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.

In the presence of France’s Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, and South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu, Jean-Pascal Le Franc, Centre national d'etudes spatiales (CNES) Director of Planning, International Relations, and Quality, and Valanathan Munsami, CEO of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), signed an agreement outlining future space cooperation between France and South Africa on 28 February 2019 in Pretoria.

Thuraya Telecommunications Company, a subsidiary of the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), has announced that its ground-breaking maritime satellite service, Thuraya VSAT+, is now commercially available from IEC Telecom.