Konnect Africa, a subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications (NYSE Euronext Paris: ETL), is offering its services to the South African authorities to help them manage the COVID-19 health crisis.
Konnect Africa will provide temporary free broadband connectivity to eight clinics in Mpumalanga province where terrestrial networks are not able to provide appropriate bandwidth.
Each site will benefit from 300 GB of Data monthly during several months, renewable if necessary.The deployment was undertaken by Konnect Africa’s local ECNS-licensed distributor, Logical Wireless, which has been has been authorized to operate during the lockdown as an Essential Services provider.
Konnect Africa has been operating in South Africa since 2016, with the ambition to bring broadband connectivity to all segments of the population, particularly those located in unserved or poorly served areas.
Konnect Africa delivers a solution that is affordable, flexible and available everywhere. Konnect Africa will see its in-orbit resources increase tenfold with the entry into service of the EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite by the end of 2020. With a total capacity of 75 Gbps, EUTELSAT KONNECT will be able to provide speeds of up to 100 Mbps to ensure full coverage of the DRC and of 40 other African countries.
Commenting on the agreement, Jean-Claude Tshipama, CEO of Konnect Africa, said this operation demonstrates the firm’s ability to respond as quickly as possible to the connectivity needs of institutional and business structures, even in complex times such as these. Konnect Africa wants South Africa to benefit from the firm’s expertise and the quality of these broadband services in this country by providing free connectivity to rural health and government based facilities.
