Internet Solutions, Q-KON Africa launch satellite broadband for Mozambique

Enterprises in Mozambique are set for an influx of satellite broadband options with yet another low-Earth orbit (LEO) provider coming into the market to compete with the likes of Starlink in the Southern African country.

Dimension Data subsidiary, Internet Solutions (IS), announced it was expanding its partnership with Q-KON Africa to bring the OneWeb LEO satellite service to the Mozambican market.

Global telecoms and satellite provider OneWeb has been growing its presence in Africa over the past year, announcing partnership deals not only with Q-KON Africa but also Airtel Africa and Paratus Group to distribute LEO satellite connectivity services across a number of African countries.

OneWeb's LEO satellite service offers the local market voice and data connectivity, with speeds of up to 100Mbit/s and latency of less than 100 milliseconds.

"The emerging LEO satellite market is set to change the Mozambican industry landscape and we are grateful for IS/Dimension Data's decision to partner with us in these exciting and promising times. Together we are very well positioned, equipped and experienced to delivering market success using the advanced and innovative OneWeb LEO service," said Q-KON Africa CEO Dr. Dawie de Wet about the deal.

"With the OneWeb service integrated in the Twoobii Smart Satellite Service portfolio we are confident that we will meet the business requirements of the local telco, service provider and enterprise market sectors," he added.

Twoobii provides satellite Internet solutions for off-grid business users and was designed and developed by Q-KON group and Intelsat.

Competing with Elon Musk's Starlink

In May 2022, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed that his satellite broadband company, Starlink, had been given regulatory approval in Mozambique. The country's telecoms regulator, INCM, cleared a license for Starlink and services are expected to start in the second quarter of 2023.

In January 2023, Starlink announced that its services had gone live in Nigeria, making it the first country in Africa to launch Starlink's satellite Internet and the 46th globally.

Starlink reached 1 million subscribers in December 2022 and has launched a constellation of nearly 4,000 satellites.

It is planning launches in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2023 as well as Egypt, Namibia and Botswana in 2024.

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The Twoobii-OneWeb service in Mozambique comes in just ahead of Starlink's Q2 2023 planned launch and is specifically aimed at the enterprise, telco and service provider market in the country.

This week Q-KON Africa also announced another deal with BCX in neighboring country, South Africa, to add the OneWeb LEO service to BCX's Skylink portfolio.

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*Top image source: Q-KON Africa.

— The Staff, Connecting Africa