Over the past twelve months, African countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Uganda and Angola have launched satellites into space. Other countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania are getting ready.

Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, has revealed that the country plans to build its own satellite ”  in the near future “, The Citizen  reported . Details such as the type of the satellite or the engineering team were not disclosed. However, negotiations to realize this ambition are already underway, we learn.

This announcement from Tanzania comes as the governments of African countries are showing growing interest in space programs and increasing investment in the sector. The 2022 edition of the annual report of the African space industry carried out by Space In Africa , the value of this industry is expected to reach $22.64 billion in 2026 while it was valued at $19.49 billion in 2021. The same report indicates that African nations allocated a total of $534.9 million to space programs in 2022 compared to $523.2 million in 2021.

Last April, the Ivorian government unveiled that the country’s first satellite should be launched by August 2024. A few days earlier, Kenya launched its first satellite called Taifa-1 into orbit. Over the past twelve months, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Egypt and Angola have also launched satellites. In addition, Russia is negotiating with some African countries like Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa to help them build and launch satellites into space.

It should be remembered that this upsurge in investment in the African space sector is taking place in a context of accelerated digital transformation. Space technology could be used to improve the coverage of telecom and high-speed Internet services, especially in rural or remote areas that are difficult to access for mobile telephone operators. According to the latest statistics from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), the country has 61.9 million mobile phone subscribers and 33.1 million internet users.

Satellites can also be used for Earth observation to improve the performance of several sectors such as agriculture, fishing, meteorology, natural resource management, security, etc.

Source: Agence Ecofin