New Media Satellite – Intelsat 36 to support MultiChoice

INTERVIEW

Intelsat this week launched two satellites that are expected to provide better telecommunications performance for service providers. Africa and the Indian Ocean will see the introduction of Intelsat 36. In fact among customers using the satellite, MultiChoice will leverage 36 to deliver premier video in Africa. CIO East Africa took time off to interview Brian Jakins, regional vice president at Intelsat and below are the excerpts…

Question: What has happened to the existing satellites (Intelsat)? Are they being decommissioned or being inclined? Does Intelsat have any inclined satellites and if so Who is using these?

Answer: Intelsat 33e will replace Intelsat 904, which will move to 45 degrees East for service continuity once Intelsat 33e comes into service. Intelsat 12, currently located at 45 degrees East, will move into inclined orbit.  Intelsat 36 is an entirely new media satellite and will be co-located with Intelsat 20 at 68.5 degrees East.

In terms of Intelsat Epic^NG replacing Intelsat’s existing fleet, we are not replacing all of our traditional satellites with the Intelsat Epic^NG platform. Instead, Intelsat Epic^NG – unlike other HTS offerings – is fully integrated and interoperable with our existing satellite fleet and IntelsatOne global terrestrial infrastructure.

 

How will each sector segment benefit from the two new satellites (talk about education, health, politics, defence)?

Intelsat 33e will provide carrier-grade, fixed-data rate services across Europe, Africa and Asia.  It will provide enterprise solutions to corporate networks operating in those regions; help mobile network operators extend their wireless infrastructure, bringing broadband connectivity to more remote regions across the continents; and help governments deliver critical services such as distance learnings and health programs to populations that are underserved. In addition, many of our mobility customers need high quality, consistent and reliable coverage wherever and whenever they need it.  Select customers that have already committed to take advantage of Intelsat 33e include Pakistani Internet service provider SuperNet Limited, African telecommunications providers such as Telkom South Africa, Orange, IP Planet, Vodacom, Dijoubti Telecom, Safarifone and Africell RDC SPRL.; Russian network service providers Romantis and RuSat LLC.

Intelsat 33e also expands Intelsat Epic^NG’s global footprint.  In March 2016, our first Intelsat Epic^NG satellite, Intelsat 29e entered into service.  This satellite covers the North Atlantic Ocean region and Caribbean.  With the launch of Intelsat 33e, our maritime and aero mobility customers will not have Intelsat Epic^NG coverage within the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean regions. Global aero service providers such as Gogo and Panasonic have committed to Intelsat 33e and maritime mobility service providers, including EMC, HarrisCaprock, KVH and Marlink are customers as well.

Intelsat 36 is a media satellite that will support our long-standing customer, MultiChoice, Africa’s leading pay-TV provider.  MultiChoice will leverage Intelsat 36’s Ku-band payload to expand its direct-to-home (DTH) and high definition services in sub-Saharan to meet the growing demand for entertainment and education options and the distribution of locally produced content within Africa. The C-band payload will expand Intelsat’s video distribution services, including content distribution to South Asian communities.

 

With the new satellites, Will the capacity to the last mile be improved? What is the current capacity being distributed or delivered to the customers of Intelsat?

One of the most important factors for service providers and network operators is performance – how much throughput reaches the end user, as opposed to how much total capacity is on the satellite. That is why it is so critical to drive innovation in-orbit, like with our next generation Intelsat Epic^NG satellites. These satellites feature innovations in ground and antenna technology that will drive performance efficiencies and make it easier to access our satellite technology.  To date, testing with Intelsat 29e has exceeded our design specifications.  Customers are experiencing better than expected network performance, and our tests on new ground hardware with ecosystem partners are indicating the same. For instance, one of our hardware partners joined us to demonstrate for our government customers a six-inch flat panel array antenna integrated onto a small remotely piloted aircraft. On that small platform, Intelsat Epic was able to transmit a high definition quality video stream using minimal satellite resources, a testament to the efficiency of our technology.

By driving performance efficiencies and making it easier and more cost-efficient to access the HTS solutions, we are reducing the required opex and capex for network operators so they can focus on introducing new connectivity services, expanding their subscriber base and providing the opportunity for profitable revenue growth and a return on investment.

 

Any other message for IT leaders in Africa?

When we designed Epic^NG, we knew backwards compatibility and open architecture were the keys to our customers’ ability to rapidly incorporate the technology.  We also thought the design – optimizing the throughput for the customer – was more important than maximizing the throughput of the satellite.  With the experience of Intelsat 29e now under our belt, these assumptions are being validated.  We are putting into place a platform that will be dynamic and continue to improve as our design construct allows us to take the most advantage of future modulation improvements.  This will bring continued benefit to our customers, important because this is the environment that exists today – the requirement for continual improvement.  This is Intelsat’s design goal, delivering an infrastructure that makes it easier for our customers’ to respond to the evolving needs of their end users.

 

Any Comment on China’s recent launch of a special satellite that will deliver secure, encrypted information?

Intelsat cannot comment on satellites outside our network.

 

How is Intelsat addressing the issues of security?

The architecture of our high throughput Intelsat Epic^NG platform, combined with our focus on satellite network security, provides a strong basis for hardening a network. The capabilities of our digital payload, the most advanced in the commercial satellite sector today, provide improved jamming and interference protection by helping to identify potential issues and being able to rapidly shift customers out of the impacted spot beams and into beams in which there is no sign of trouble.

 

What will be the cost to the ordinary African resident? Is the cost going up or going down? Do they have to care anyway?

Intelsat does not target consumer broadband users directly, focusing instead on service providers working with enterprise users and mobile network operators that need high quality of service and high availability. In order to meet that demand, you cannot just be a provider of capacity. This is why our Intelsat Globalized Network integrates different spectrum, orbits and technologies under a single ecosystem to drive higher performance, greater operational efficiencies/capital expenditure savings for our customers as well as simpler access to our technology. Our approach enables the service providers to maintain control of their network and differentiate their services and approaches they take to the end user. If you offer a differentiated solution and deliver value to customers—in the new and emerging applications—the rest will take care of itself.