Satellite Internet in Equatorial Guinea

Satellite Internet Access Service

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea sits in Central Africa, bordered by Cameroon and Gabon. Though one of the smallest countries on the African continent, it is also one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest oil producers and the richest country per capita in Africa. Aside from oil, the country’s other significant industries include forestry, fishing and subsistence farming.

The telecommunications sector in Equatorial Guinea is growing. Although landline phone penetration needs development with 2 lines per every 100 people, the amount of mobile phone subscriptions has grown significantly and Mobile Network Operators in the country are focusing upon the modernisation of their networks and launching new services. Though mobile services are available in urban areas, there is a challenge to connect more rural, outlying areas to mobile phone networks. It is forecast that, by 2021, mobile revenues will account for 74% of total telecom revenues and that the fastest growing segment will be mobile data. This is due to the huge increase in the use of mobile devices to access Internet services. The government is committed to bridging the existing Digital Divide in Equatorial Guinea but, to do this they will need to roll out significant infrastructure.

Connecting Rural Areas

For MNOs, reaching these outlying areas can be a challenge. Installation of cell towers to extend the network into hard-to-reach areas can be prohibitively expensive and impractical and therefore, MNOs often decide against taking networks out to under or un-served regions. VSAT services from BusinessCom Networks can provide the ideal solution to this problem. At a time when mobile connectivity is in huge demand, the installation of VSAT services for cellular backhaul services enables MNOs to reach large, untapped areas of the population where the construction of cell towers is simply not an option. Easily and rapidly installed by a BusinessCom Networks technician, VSAT provides a cost-efficient option to increase service coverage.

As urban areas reach saturation point in terms of mobile connectivity, MNOs need to move to rural areas where there is much greater potential for higher ARPU and demand is very high for media-rich applications. BusinessCom delivers the full spectrum of IP services to these more remote regions. Once these networks are deployed, users can enjoy the wealth of applications that mobile data brings with it such as mobile banking and access to health and education services.

VSAT offers a hugely flexible and versatile platform with which to build out mobile networks. Considering the projections that have been made for the mobile broadband market, satellite is an extremely valuable addition to any MNO’s portfolio that needs to extend their reach without large investments.