Since last year, the increase in demand for telecoms services, caused by the Covid-19, has led to the multiplication of partnerships between operators. For iSat Africa, this option was essential to reach more consumers and take advantage of new market niches.

UAE-based Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PJSC announced Sunday (October 28th) the signing of an agreement between YahClick, its data arm, with connectivity service provider iSAT Africa. It concerns the provision of its Ka-band capacities on YahClick’s high-speed satellite to extend its connectivity solutions in the remote areas of twelve African markets, notably in Nigeria, Zambia, DR Congo and Africa from ballast.

Rakesh Kukreja, Managing Director of iSAT Africa, explained that “  the new partnership with YahClick will bring significant improvement in services to our clients in these markets with business operations in remote areas. iSAT Africa will equip them with advanced and reliable technical capacities ”.

“Rural cellular backhaul will improve the connectivity proposition for major mobile network operators (MNOs) in these countries, thereby bringing connectivity to the unconnected people and bridging the digital divide in Africa,  ” he said.

Since the Covid-19 crisis, the demand for connectivity has increased in Africa. Rural areas are increasingly expressing the need for Internet access, hence the investment of several renowned operators such as Orange and MTN in this part of the continent. In its Mobility Report of June 2021, the Swedish company Ericsson estimates that sub-Saharan Africa will record a very high growth rate in mobile data traffic, which will drop from 0.87 Exabits per month in 2020 to 5.9 Exabits in 2026.

While geographic constraints and poor road conditions still greatly restrict investment by mobile operators in much of remote areas in Africa, satellite has become the increasingly adopted alternative to circumvent these obstacles. iSAT Africa has decided to also capitalize on it to reach more consumers and record additional income in new market niches.

Source: Agence Ecofin