Vodacom picks Intelsat for cellular backhaul solutions in Africa

Pan-African mobile telecom company Vodacom has chosen Intelsat for cellular backhaul deployments in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The multi-year capacity agreement will see Vodacom utilizing the Luxembourg-based company’s Intelsat 906 and Intelsat 25 satellite.

According to Vodacom, the partnership with Intelsat will see the satellite company expand its cellular backhaul infrastructure necessary to support wireless services, especially since mobile data traffic has been surging, not only in Africa, but across the globe. Mobile operators in the continent are already facing challenges with government stifling the auction of bandwidth.

The cellular backhaul deployments will also strengthen the South African telecom company’s implementation of 3G networks across the DRC. In addition, Vodacom will also be optimizing its partnership with Intelsat by using its world-class satellite fleet for corporate networking services, disaster recovery services, and in-flight satellite internet solutions.

NZ backhaul links more competitive

New Zealand’s Commerce Commission released today a study that puts 95% of regional backhaul links, and 75% of relevant local backhaul links, as competitive, which means they are now less subject to regulation, and presents better broadband deals for customers.

 

Telecom providers rely on backhaul service to deliver transmission capacity used in voice and broadband applications and services. According to New Zealand’s Telecommunications Users Association, the increased competition should result in cheaper internet rates and improve data caps in broadband services.

 

Experts attribute the increased competition from the separation with Telecom in November of last year. Others also pinpoint the increasing number of investment seen on backhaul networks by other telecom players.

 

The annual competition review by the Commerce Commission focused on backhaul services for unbundled bitstream access or UBA , unbundled copper local loop or UCLL, and unbundled copper low frequency (UCLF).

 

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