Liquid Intelligent Technologies is turning to Telesat's Lightspeed enterprise-grade network to extend its enterprise portfolio, which includes next-generation cloud services, managed security services, business Wifi and data centre connectivity.
The two-way partnership will also see Telesat explore the integration of Liquid’s landing stations, PoPs, site hosting, management services, and fibre network as part of its global terrestrial infrastructure that integrates with the Lightspeed network.
“Liquid’s terrestrial infrastructure in Africa is second to none, from the largest fibre network spanning over 100,000 kilometres to state-of-the-art teleports and access to diverse points-of-presence within the continent,” said Glenn Katz, Telesat’s Chief Commercial Officer.
“We’re eager to explore the synergies between both of our company’s offerings, with confidence that we will establish a ‘win-win’ for our organisations and the future of connectivity for Africa.”
“Telesat Lightspeed will be the world’s most advanced LEO network, delivering the enterprise-grade, fibre-like connectivity that Africa’s massively underserved market needs,” said Scott Mumford, Liquid Satellite Services CEO.
“Integrating ubiquitous, multi-gigabit per second links with guaranteed SLA’s from Telesat Lightspeed will enable Liquid to expand their award-winning services via an untethered network in the sky and deliver expanded service offerings to our customers not possible through the current satellite-based offerings.”
In future, their collaboration will likely see the two developing terrestrial use cases for LEO satellite connectivity, while exploring further integrations.
Elsewhere, Vodacom DRC is turning to satellite to achieve the goals set out in its Vision 2025 strategy, particularly the "inclusion for all" pillar. It has contracted Intelsat to provide its new Ku-band services and its CellBackhaul service will be leveraged as an alternative to fibre and microwave backhaul at various sites as part of Vodacom’s Rural Communication Solution (RCS) initiative.
Intelsat's portfolio of backhaul solutions includes platforms in Europe, the US and Japan.
“We are pleased to continue to work with Intelsat on their new Ku-Band managed service as an alternative backhaul solution to support our rural expansion objectives,” said Didier Kabongo, CNO of Vodacom DRC. “Expanding mobile service to the underserved and unserved population of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a key pillar of our Vision 2025 strategy.”
Rhys Morgan, Intelsat’s VP and GM for EMEA media and networks sales said: “CellBackhaul managed services bring together the right capacity, services, and expertise to provide customers economical alternatives to expand into difficult areas. Intelsat is dedicated to this important partnership with Vodacom DRC, helping to deliver solutions that fill gaps where other technologies are unworkable.”
