Telecom

Satellite Spending Soars to $12Bn

Published

9 years ago

September 28, 2017

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Satellite operators Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat and Inmarsat are spending billions of dollars on high throughput space assets to deliver faster broadband for shipping

The top four operators of satellites for the maritime sector are investing around US$8.5 billion in new satellites, which will provide huge gains in broadband capacity for VSAT applications.

It is probable that the rest are investing, combined, at least another US$4 billion, if this includes a new constellation of L-band satellites by Iridium Communications.

Intelsat is spending up to US$2 billion on satellites over the next three years, peaking this year at up to US$800 million on high throughput and media satellites.

In the second half of this year Intelsat intends to launch three satellites. This could be followed by another three in 2017 and three in 2018.

Some of these will be used to replace existing satellites, while others are forming the new EpicNG constellation of high throughput Ku-band satellites.

The first of these, Intelsat 29e was brought into operation in the second quarter of this year. It delivers high throughput VSAT for ships operating in the Caribbean and over the North Atlantic.

According to Intelsat director of mobility product management Mark Richman, Intelsat 33e will be launched in August this year, and then Intelsat 32e early in 2017 to boost the EpicNG coverage.

Intelsat 33e arrived at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana in late July in preparation for its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket. There are also plans to launch Intelsat 35e in the second quarter of 2017, and Intelsat 37e in the second half of 2017.

“EpicNG is moving forward as scheduled,” Mr Richman said. “The next main event will be bringing Intelsat 33e into service. Then it is building and launching the rest of the EpicNG constellation. Intelsat 29e has coverage over Latin America, the Caribbean, North America’s East Coast and the North Atlantic to Europe. Intelsat 33e will provide coverage over Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.”

The company also plans to launch Horizon 3e to provide spot beam coverage over the Pacific from 2018. “We will then add multiple layers of coverage and redundancy over critical areas of maritime traffic,” said Mr Richman. “The IS-32e satellite is planned to provide more coverage over the Caribbean and the North Atlantic. We will be increasing the coverage in key areas to address the expected growth in ship broadband.”

He continued: “We expect a 60 per cent increase in ship-to-shore traffic in the coming years. This is pretty significant for operations. And crew are bringing more mobile devices on board as they have high expectations for crew welfare services. They are deciding where they want to work according to the crew welfare that is on offer.”

Inmarsat has spent US$1.6 billion on its fifth generation constellation and Global Xpress Ka-band platform.

It has also announced it will proceed with a sixth generation of satellites with Ka-band and L-band transponders, which is likely to need similar amounts of investment as the Inmarsat-5 constellation.

In July, Inmarsat extended its long-term strategic partnership with VT iDirect to develop the next generation of satellite communications technologies.

This expands on the development of the Global Xpress technology. Research and development will create new solutions to support the growing integration of satellite and terrestrial networks.

They will also develop smaller, more powerful terminals, and study the boosting of waveform performance. This is part of the Inmarsat Communications Evolution initiative, which is a public-private partnership between Inmarsat and the European Space Agency.

SES plans to invest €2.8 billion (US$3 billion) over five years on new satellites. This is on top of the €900 million it spent on acquiring rival satellite operator O3b Networks and the €1.2 billion in debt it took on, according to a recent presentation it gave to investors. The capital investment includes five satellites, of which three will have high throughput spot beams over maritime areas.

Growth in satellite capacity is in response to rising demand for broadband VSAT on commercial ships, offshore vessels and cruise ships. SES expects the number of ships with broadband connectivity to double from 13,200 in 2015 to more than 32,000 in 2020. SES sales director Giovanni Auciello said these ships will be able to connect to a multi-layer of satellite coverage. “Our next generation satellites are Ku-band, SES-14, SES-12 and SES-15, which are under construction and should be launched by the end of 2017 and operating in 2018.” The O3b satellites provide Ka-band to maritime from at least 45 degrees north and south of the Equator. Cruise ships sailing in the Caribbean are already using O3b coverage.

Eutelsat intends to invest €1.3 billion in satellites and ground infrastructure over the next three years, which could result in the addition of six satellites. Not all of these will service the maritime broadband market, though.

Eutelsat is considering very high throughput satellites that could be launched after 2020. Others have invested in new satellites. Telenor has invested around NKr1.6 billion (US$187 million) in its Thor 7 regional Ka-band service. ViaSat Inc and Telesat are investing in new high power satellites. All this is estimated to be at least US$1 billion in total.

The investment will help to double, to 240, the amount of demand for wide beam satellite transponders that provide broadband in C-band and Ku-band.

According to Northern Sky Research (NSR) the high throughput satellite capacity demand within maritime will rise from just 2 Gbps in 2015 to a huge 46 Gbps in 2025.

“There is a strong focus on new launches of high throughput satellites for the mobility broadband market for maritime and aviation,” said NSR senior analyst Brad Grady. “There is a tremendous amount of bandwidth coming over the next few years. It will be more competitive for the service providers for streaming data and providing value-adding services.”

He expects more market demand for roaming on Ku-band and Ka-band, a small but stable market for C-band, and the need for L-band for safety or machine-to-machine communications. “Satellite operators are developing a capacity ecosystem, investing in new high throughput satellites to capture that mobility market. We expect to see a number of new geostationary high throughput satellite launches coming over the next few years, which will help to increase capacity demand to 46 Gbps in 2025.”

Aside from VSAT, Iridium is preparing to launch the first group of new L-band satellites that will form its Next constellation. It estimated that total capital expenditure in Next would be around US$3 billion, including more than US$600 million this year. This will be the platform for the new Iridium Certus maritime communications service, which is due to begin in 2017.

The first shipment of Thales Alenia Space-built satellites is due to be launched in September. Other launches will follow over the next 12 months. A total of 81 satellites are scheduled to roll off the assembly line, with 66 serving as operational satellites to replace the existing Iridium network, and the remainder serving as ground and in-orbit spares, said Iridium director of product management Brian Pemberton.

When these satellites are launched and commissioned, this will allow Iridium to start its Certus maritime broadband service. “We are working with value-adding resellers, and recruiting more providers across the maritime market by the end of this year,” said Mr Pemberton. “We will start testing the terminals in the first quarter of 2017. We should have commercial services in the second quarter.”

Iridium director of maritime business Kyle Hurst said the initial service will deliver 350 Kbps of bandwidth, which could be doubled through a software update. But the new constellation will ultimately be able to deliver data streams of up to 1.4 Mbps. To achieve this, Iridium is working with suppliers, principally Cobham Satcom and Thales, to offer Certus terminals for a variety of bandwidth capabilities. “We are working with terminal providers and on commercial models for our partners,” said Mr Hurst. “Our new terminals will be up to 1.4 Mbps. We are looking at applications to further enable what we can do with Certus.”

Thuraya Telecommunications Co has started planning for a new constellation to replace its existing satellites. Thuraya-2 has an operating life to 2020 and Thuraya-3 to 2025. “We need next generation plans and expect to share this strategy by the end of this year,” said Thuraya marketing vice-president Christian Cull. “We will also have new products coming later this year. We are expecting tremendous growth in data for improving operations through real-time information and data analytics. These are good reasons for ship operators to look at changing satellite communications and investing in technology.”

Marlink was one of the first to use EpicNG for a maritime customer. An MSC Cruises vessel MSC Divina is using the Ku-band spot beams from the Intelsat 29e satellite for passengers’ broadband requirements. According to Marlink maritime president Tore Morten Olsen, there will be strong growth in passenger broadband demand. This can be met through EpicNG spot beams. “The infrastructure is already on board so ship operators do not need to make any changes,” he said. “And they do not notice the change-over as this is an overlay of the Ku-band fabric through IntelsatOne Flex.”

He also expects that Inmarsat’s Ka-band Fleet Xpress services will be integrated into Marlink’s solutions. “Ku-band and Ka-band can work together in our portfolio. There does not need to be a single solution. The focus is to provide peace of mind to our clients as we see more growth in VSAT. We are now offering a global 60cm antenna network for maritime as more capacity is available.”

KVH Industries has seen increasing use of its mini VSAT Broadband for transmission of operations data. KVH vice president of marketing Mike Mitsock said owners are able to reduce fuel costs and reduce risk by using this data. “A 10 per cent reduction in fuel costs can be achieved,” he said. “Route plans can be optimised by using weather routeing, and the risk of machinery damage can be mitigated.”

Mr Mitsock said KVH was looking at how to provide data analysis and fault diagnostics for owners. “We would proactively help owners by telling them that something needs to be fixed, so they can plan for the next port call or drydocking.” The challenges are how to get the data off the ship to a data centre and to analyse it. “The size of the files would be huge to upload, as ships could generate terabytes of data over a year. So we need to find a better way, to optimise the uplink,” he explained.

A solution would be to do the initial data analytics on the ships. “Not all of the data needs to go off the ship.” Mr Mitsock added: “More analytics should happen on board. Some manufacturers are embedding analytics into the sensors so they can identify issues. We are working with software agents to develop local processing and analytics, so less data is sent to shore.”

Network service devices are a vital element for optimised broadband. Marpoint has developed the EVO² device as an enterprise-grade router for controlling a multi-person vessel network on all satellite broadband installations. This can include VSAT, FleetBroadband, Iridium, 3G, and WiFi. Business development director Anastasis Kyrkos said EVO² uses bandwidth allocation policies and network management to allow the running of multiple applications for crew internet, business email, file transfers, and video streaming. “All vessels will require innovative hardware and software network solutions to handle all their ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship communications needs,” he said.

Navarino has included full redundancy in its network service platform Infinity Cube. “It can switch between nodes and will allow several applications simultaneously,” said communications vice-president Christian Vakarelis. “It can automatically select the satellite network, maintaining connectivity, including continuous voice over IP and data transmissions.” It can operate GTMaritime’s email application, online training and chart applications. Navarino recently agreed to host C-Map’s digital navigation solutions on Infinity.

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GSMA Says High Smartphone Costs Threatens Africa’s AI Future

Published

9 hours ago

July 24, 2026

Ebere Melum-Nwogbo

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The GSM Association (GSMA) has urged African governments to reduce taxes and levies on entry-level smartphones as part of efforts to accelerate digital inclusion and ensure millions of Africans are not excluded from the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

GSMA Says High Smartphone Costs Threatens Africa’s AI Future

The association warned that about 961 million Africans who are currently covered by mobile broadband networks are not using the services due to affordability challenges, particularly the high cost of smartphones.

The call was made at the Digital Africa Summit, organised by GSMA in partnership with the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), which brought together regulators, policymakers and industry stakeholders to discuss strategies for improving connectivity and driving digital transformation across the continent.

Speaking at the event, Caroline Mbugwa, senior director, Public Policy and Communications, GSMA Africa, said affordable smartphones and reliable connectivity were essential for unlocking the benefits of AI across sectors including healthcare, education, transport and commerce.

Mbugwa noted that while mobile broadband coverage has expanded significantly across Africa, a large number of people remain unable to access digital services because they cannot afford smartphones.

She stressed that fiscal reforms, particularly the removal of taxes on entry-level devices, were urgently needed to make smartphones more accessible to low-income users.

According to her, South Africa’s decision to remove a nine per cent luxury goods tax on entry-level smartphones helped accelerate adoption of smart devices and reduce dependence on feature phones.

“We are now entering what we call the era of intelligence, and the era of intelligence requires that we have an already existing robust infrastructure, robust connectivity that can support the growth of artificial intelligence on the continent.

“We have a whole 961 million Africans that are covered by mobile broadband services but are not using the service. This is what we refer to as a usage gap. If this remains unaddressed, it means that this number will be left behind when it comes to the adoption of AI.

“This signals that there is demand for adoption of smart devices. Customers are willing to actually use the service. Affordability is the challenge,” she said.

Also speaking, Michaela Angonius, head of Global Policy and Regulatory Team at GSMA, said African countries must adopt policy reforms that encourage investment, expand connectivity and reduce barriers to digital access.

Angonius, who oversees global regulatory and policy issues covering areas such as fiscal policy, competition and network deployment, cautioned against adopting a one-size-fits-all approach to reforms across the continent.

She said findings from the Digital Africa Index showed that while some countries, including South Africa, had made significant progress, others still needed deeper regulatory reforms to improve their digital ecosystems.

She identified three major areas requiring attention: modernising licensing frameworks, improving the use of Universal Service Fund (USF) resources and adopting smarter approaches to quality of service regulation.

According to her, many African countries still operate technology-specific licensing systems, which do not align with the rapid evolution of digital technologies.

Angonius advocated for technology-neutral licensing frameworks that would allow different communication providers, including satellite operators, mobile network operators and internet service providers, to operate under the same regulatory principles.

She explained that the growth of satellite services had exposed weaknesses in existing licensing structures, as regulators often struggle to determine how to classify new technologies.

On Universal Service Funds, Angonius said the existence of unused funds in many countries effectively creates an additional tax burden on telecom operators, which eventually increases costs for consumers.

She warned that such additional costs could worsen the digital divide at a time when Africa is already struggling with smartphone affordability and connectivity challenges.

The GSMA executive also called for a review of quality of service regulations, arguing that countries with the best digital service quality are not necessarily those with the most detailed regulatory requirements.

She said governments should instead focus on policies that encourage investment, expand coverage to underserved communities and improve access for people who remain disconnected.

Angonius further advised finance ministers across Africa to remove levies placed on entry-level smartphones to lower the cost of first-time device ownership.

“Those countries with the best quality of service are not necessarily the countries that have detailed quality of service regulation. Rather, they have focused on how to get the investment right.

“If you have a levy on any handset, firstly, if you can, as a finance minister, remove it. If you can’t, at least remove it from those entry-level handsets that should be affordable for everyday users,” she said.

She added that Nigeria, like other African countries, could benefit from reforms that promote investment, address societal needs and ensure consumers gain long-term value from digital transformation.

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Airtel Africa Backs London Listing

Published

9 hours ago

July 24, 2026

Chike Onwuegbuchi

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Airtel Africa has confirmed that the London Stock Exchange is its preferred listing venue for Airtel Money in 2026, as the group looks to unlock value from its fast-growing fintech business.

The highly anticipated listing aims to maximise market opportunities, with analysts reportedly anticipating a valuation of around $10 billion.

The announcement came as the telecoms operator reported strong first-quarter (Q1) results on Thursday, with surging data usage and mobile money transactions driving double-digit revenue growth across its markets.

The group reported revenue of $1.85 billion, up 31% in reported currency and 21.1% in constant currency, underscoring robust demand for digital and financial services.

Mobile money remained a standout performer, reinforcing its role as a key growth engine. Total transaction value reached an annualised $245 billion, up 51.5%, while the customer base grew 23.3% to 56.5 million users.

“Our focus on deepening financial inclusion through increased customer adoption, broader use cases and a stronger digital payments ecosystem enabled higher usage and facilitated continued average revenue per user growth, reinforcing Airtel Money’s growing role as a trusted digital financial services provider,” the company said.

Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa, said the company is leveraging digital platforms, data and artificial intelligence to enhance customer experience and support long-term growth.

“We have started this year with another pleasing performance. Our continued focus on the customer experience translated into accelerating customer base growth across all business segments,” he said.

Taldar said a London listing would provide access to a broader international investor base and support the telco’s ambition to unlock long-term value from one of Africa’s leading fintech platforms.

Data usage per customer rose from 7.8GB to 10.6GB per month, driving a 56.3% increase in network traffic, while smartphone penetration reached 51%, reflecting continued digital adoption.

Accelerated network investment drove capital expenditure (capex) of US$389 million, up from $121 million in the corresponding period last year.

“Supported by an elevated pace of deployment, we added more than 920 sites during the quarter, our highest first-quarter site rollout, while further expanding our fibre network to 82,100km,” the company said.

Airtel’s cost-efficiency programme supported EBITDA margin resilience, with the margin remaining at 50.1% in Q1.

However, the company warned that higher energy costs linked to geopolitical developments could increase inflationary pressures and weigh on margins in the near term.

Despite this outlook, the operator said its investment programme remains on track, with spending brought forward to support demand and capture growth opportunities linked to Africa’s digital transformation.

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TikTok Removed 4.8 Million Violative Videos in Nigeria in Q1 2026 – Report

Published

9 hours ago

July 24, 2026

Ugo Onwuaso

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TikTok says it removed more than 4.8 million videos in Nigeria for violating its Community Guidelines during the first quarter of 2026 as part of efforts to create a safer digital environment for users.

The platform disclosed this in its Q1 2026 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, which highlighted increased investments in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered moderation systems, live-stream safety, content authenticity and AI literacy.

According to the report, the 4.8 million videos removed between January and March represented only 0.6 per cent of all content uploaded by Nigerian users during the period, indicating that the overwhelming majority of content complied with the platform’s rules.

TikTok said 99.8 per cent of the violating videos were removed proactively before being reported by users, while 92.8 per cent were taken down within 24 hours of being posted.

Globally, the platform removed more than 184 million videos during the same period, accounting for only 0.5 per cent of all videos uploaded worldwide.

TikTok said the figures reflected continued investment in advanced moderation technologies capable of detecting harmful content before it spreads widely across the platform.

The company also reported stronger enforcement measures for TikTok LIVE, saying it suspended 120,000 LIVE sessions in Nigeria for violating its Community Guidelines.

The figure represents an increase of 40,000 suspended LIVE sessions compared with the previous reporting period.

Globally, TikTok recorded more than 58 million LIVE enforcement actions, including the suspension of 50,791,858 LIVE sessions and warnings or demonetisation issued to 21,966,667 LIVE creators for breaching platform policies.

According to TikTok, warning notices provide creators with opportunities to correct policy violations before stronger sanctions are applied.

The platform attributed part of the success of its enforcement operations to close collaboration with government agencies, including Nigeria’s Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), as well as civil society organisations working to promote online safety.

TikTok said it was strengthening efforts to combat the misuse of artificial intelligence for producing misleading or spam content.

According to the report, the platform is testing enhanced detection systems capable of identifying accounts dedicated to publishing AI-generated spam.

Globally, TikTok removed more than 86 million fake accounts during the first quarter of 2026.

In Nigeria, the company disclosed that it removed more than 118,000 pieces of content under its policy governing edited media and AI-generated content (AIGC).

TikTok said it had also reached a major milestone by labelling more than three billion AI-generated videos globally using a combination of Content Credentials, creator disclosure tools and invisible watermarking technology.

The company said the measures are designed to improve transparency by helping users identify content created or substantially modified using AI technologies.

It reiterated that harmful or misleading AI-generated content remains prohibited under its Community Guidelines.

TikTok also announced a number of initiatives unveiled during the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva aimed at promoting responsible AI use.

The company said it had joined the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) Steering Committee, where it will collaborate with industry partners to develop standards that improve transparency around AI-generated content.

To promote responsible AI use, TikTok said it partnered with the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) and AI expert Henry Ajder to develop educational resources for users.

As part of the initiative, the platform said it would launch a new in-app AI Literacy Hub for Nigerian users in the coming weeks.

According to TikTok, the hub will provide educational resources to help users identify AI-generated content and better understand how AI tools are being used on the platform.

The company also disclosed that it has committed more than 4 million U.S. dollars to its AI Literacy Fund since the initiative was launched in November 2025.

In Nigeria, TikTok said it continues to work with organisations including the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and Paradigm Initiative to produce locally relevant AI literacy content.

According to the company, the partnerships have generated more than 200 million views, reflecting growing public interest in trustworthy AI education.

TikTok said it remained committed to improving transparency through regular publication of its Community Guidelines Enforcement Reports.

The company added that it has redesigned the reports to make them easier for users to navigate while expanding the number of countries for which detailed enforcement data is available.

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