Satellite holds key to connecting Botswana’s unconnected
Odirile Tamajobe | Monday September 19, 2022 06:00
However, in Botswana, our connectivity gap is still too high as remote areas critical to our economic engine (like the Okavango Delta, farmlands and mineral deposits) remain unconnected by terrestrial broadband infrastructure.
Considering that mining and tourism alone contribute just over 48% of Botswana's GDP, you realise that connectivity in these sectors should become a national priority. Instead of looking underground, we should look beyond the stratosphere to the true hero of connectivity orbiting the earth.
Many of us tend to forget satellites' fundamental role in our digitally connected world. Yet, many more don't understand the role satellites will play in the future of connectivity.
Ask the world's foremost tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos if you don't believe me. These moguls are using their empires to build satellite internet networks that aim to revolutionise connectivity as we know it.
The orbiting truth is that satellites have been the underlying driving technology in telecoms worldwide – especially across the African landscape - for the last 60 years. They keep our GPS devices working.
They have provided access to television for many people across the globe. Since 2003, satellites have brought internet connectivity to consumers in even the most rural and remote locales.
Hence, in Botswana, satellite connectivity is a critical economic engine driver and should be a focus for the future success of this nation.
Satellites are the key to bridging the connection gap
As part of the largest independent network provider in emerging markets globally, we passionately believe that all Africans on the continent have the right to access internet connectivity. Keeping this belief at the core of our business, Liquid has not only built the largest independent fibre network in Africa but has also invested extensively in award-winning VSAT Broadband and Satellite services.
We saw the potential for this technology before we even opened for business in Botswana, which is why it became the first product we offered in the region. Today, we have around 60 clients tapping into our satellite capability from different sectors – primarily focused on tourism in the Okavango Delta and agricultural operations in Northern Botswana.
Satellite Broadband delivers cost-effective business speed broadband connectivity over VSAT anywhere in Botswana. Built for performance, Liquid Botswana is the only operator that has built its satellite platforms directly connecting to its core terrestrial network.
Through these satellite services, we will bridge the connectivity divide. With over 1.1 billion people calling sub-Saharan Africa home, the bulk of the difference can be connected through a direct satellite link with minimal infrastructure requirements.
The greatest population of our clients and the communities they empower lie close to the border, to the delta and rural areas. As Botswana is also a farming nation – we find that those in significant farming communities and associations utilise our VSAT service.
Cost is often cited as a major barrier, and that is understandable. Any technology that requires launching a spacecraft and maintaining a spacecraft in orbit is an expensive undertaking. However, with the rising popularity of satellite technology, reusable launch vehicles and the proliferation of commercial space-based enterprises, the costs have come down astronomically.
While land connections may be preferable, if we want this country to thrive, and we really do, then we need to look to the skies to provide as much connectivity as possible, linking Africa with Africa and then Africa to the world.
Satellites, infrastructure, and handshakes
Investing in the continent is challenging but a worthy struggle on the road to an economic renaissance that can only come when more people are connected.
Through the right partnerships and engagements with government, industry, and civil society, we will navigate this terrain, ideally ending with a blanket approach that adopts the same best practice around regulations that will enable digital inclusion for the continent's good.
In Botswana, this has been pushed hard by the government. Connecting the unconnected and digitilisation has become a prominent item in the national 'Reset Agenda' driven His Excellency the President of the Republic of Botswana, Dr. Eric Mokgweetsi Masisi. Connecting our industries will inevitably connect up the communities who depend on them. There is still a way to go, but the role of satellites in our connectivity journey is clear.
We are proud to be a critical part of that journey and hope to influence some key projects for Batswana communities using our VSAT infrastructure. Together with the government, our customers and stakeholders who want to join hands with us, we can connect Botswana beyond the stratosphere and into a prosperous digital future.
*Tamajobe is Managing Director of Liquid Intelligent Technologies Botswana