Q-KON Africa and Twoobii satellite services are available in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: Satellite technology offers rapid deployment (thanks to its independence from terrestrial infrastructure), ‘available anywhere’, always-on coverage and high levels of service availability. In combination, these factors make the current generation of Smart Satellite Services ideal for off-grid scenarios, as either a primary or back-up system.
Technological innovations have addressed the legacy constraints of previous generations of satellite services. These historic issues limited the end-user appetite for the large-scale deployment of satellite services to close the gap and connect ‘off-grid’ locations in Africa, and meant that until recently, satellite connectivity often did not extend beyond niche applications.
Q-KON Africa – solutions that connect millions
With over 30 years’ experience across the continent, we have built solid foundations from which to develop the next generation of regional satellite services – and the one after that. Our greatest asset is the time we have spent, and that we continue to spend, with customers throughout Africa and more recently, the southern Africa region in particular.
Q-KON Africa has an unmatched track record of success in some 27 African nations, including installing microwave point-to-point networks for the GSM industry and deploying IPConnect non-line-of-sight fixed wireless access network solutions – a first for the industry.
The first large-scale SADC region platform
In 2010, Q-KON Africa introduced the SkyeVine platform on the Newtec Sat3Play hub and used the Intelsat IS28 second-generation platform, developed to service the business, prosumer and fintech point-of-sale market sectors in southern Africa.
The successful rollout of SkyeVine involved managing multi-currency revenue collection, building the network for local voice interconnect services and, most importantly, balancing the quality-of-service vs cost metrics.
Third-generation platform
From 2012, we developed que-X, our third-generation platform based on the iDirect Evolution hub. Designed to meet the needs of governments, banks and enterprises, que-X also became the R&D platform for the development of SD-WAN-over-satellite services, Layer2-over-satellite and advanced billing architectures. This expertise was subsequently incorporated into our current offering, Twoobii Smart Satellite Services.
Twoobii [to be] connected…
This market-leading solution continues to build on the success of SkyeVine and que-X. Available in South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, Twoobii reflects our commitment to continuous innovation, including developments on the emerging LEO and MEO horizons.
Smart Satellite Services offer advanced quality-of-service and are ideally suited to “off-grid” locations with little to no access to fibre or LTE. Twoobii delivers ‘available anywhere’ functionality and compatibility with renewable energy sources. Our services can fully support reliable voice services, video surveillance, retail POS and other real-time applications, and have exorcised outdated myths around the speed, cost and latency of satellite connectivity.
An exciting future
During 2022, a paradigm shift occurred with the creation of the opportunity for satellite technology to transition from a back-up system to a first-choice network for remote and off-grid locations, as well as for more conventional users.
Even as we continue to roll-out Twoobii across the southern Africa region, we are already hard at work developing next generation Smart Satellite Services solutions to meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
The power of partnerships
Our story was originally about technology, functions and features, but has become much more about people, integrity and commitment. We are proud to be associated with our current and pending in-country channel partners, each with specific local knowledge that they apply to the servicing of our customers.
It’s clear that satellite connectivity has a key role to play in connecting Africa, and that African enterprises like Q-KON Africa are at the forefront of enabling this technological revolution.
