Latest News
 |
|
C-COM Satellite Systems’ recent deal with Vox Telecom in South Africa foreshadows trend for growing demand, CEO says.
Image credit: C-COM
|
[Satellite TODAY 07-24-13] In the wake of C-COM Satellite Systems’ recent deal with Vox Telecom in South Africa, C-COM’s CEO Leslie Klein points to a new trend in the satellite industry. In an interview with SatelliteTODAY.com, he said the industry has seen a significant increase in the demand for Ka-band mobile antennas.
“With the introduction of new Ka satellites, the demand for antennas is rapidly increasing because of lower hardware and bandwidth costs,” Klein said noting that “these KA antennas are a game changer, especially in areas where broadband does not exist.”
Under the deal with Vox Telecom, one of South Africa’s largest independent telecommunications firm, C-COM has started supplying its iNetVu Mobile antennas to the company. Vox Telecom will use the C-COM manufactured antennas on the YahClick Go broadband satellite service, which offers Ka-band satellite connection across Africa.
"With Yahclick, South Africa’s first Ka-band broadband service, we’ve been able to slash the price of satellite broadband costs," Jacques Visser, project manager for Vox Telecom said in a written statement. With C-COM’s iNetVu Mobile antennas, Vox Telecom can significantly simplify the process for its end users. "It’s literally a matter of pressing one button," Visser said. "The antenna’s software controller and robotic movement systems will automatically find the satellite signal and connect within less than five minutes. If there’s no electricity, it can run off a car battery."
The products have already been deployed at several high-profile events in South Africa, such as the ANC Mangaung conference in Bloemfontein, the opening game of the AFCON in Soweto, the annual Dusi Canoe Marathon in Kwazulu-Natal and the Charity Balloon Run event recently held in Cape Town.
But according to Klein, while the South African market is seeing healthy demand for antennas, the company overall has already sold hundreds of them in Europe and North America. “I expect the trend [for increased demand] to continue. As more satellites are going into orbit, more customers will come to realize the benefit [of C-COM’s products],” he said.
Among these benefits are a number of vertical applications, Klein said, which include disaster management, police, fire, telemedicine, military and satellite news gathering. “The vertical markets are absolutely expanding,” he said noting that “C-COM has very good opportunity to become established as the premier antenna provider, around the world.”
According to Klein, while the availability of new Ka-band satellites has served as a catalyst to spark new demand, that has not been without challenges for the company.
“The challenge is always to have certification of mobile antennas around the world. You have to go through a process and sometimes that process takes over a year for the antenna to be allowed,” he said noting that the key to his company’s success was working closely with satellite operators “It’s a lengthily process and an expensive process, but if you don’t do it, you don’t get any revenue,” he added.
As C-COM overcame these challenges, the company was able to forge partnerships with Viasat, Avanti, Hughes, Yahsat, Eutelsat and a number of other operators. “We’ve managed to be the only one in the world qualified to be certified on all of them,” he said.
Count Gilat among another key C-COM partner, also responsible for a major project with the Mexican Ministry of Health who decided to invest in field hospitals that can be deployed in case of epidemics or disasters.
“We needed an always-on manageable communication network that is reliable, could be deployed quickly and was optimized to guarantee uninterrupted operations despite the rugged terrain and the harsh weather conditions of Central Asia,” the Mexican Ministry of Health said in a written statement. “Gilat’s VSAT technology provides us with a reliable communication infrastructure for both data and voice, for all of our sites, even in the most remote areas.”
Mexico found that satellite technology was “the most effective means to provide broadband connectivity independent of terrestrial infrastructure,” according to the statement. Another reason why the country decided for Gilat was its fully redundant SkyEdge Hub was already operational for one of the largest SkyEdge networks in the world.
“To provide a quick-deploy implementation, an auto-pointing antenna was required as part of the solution. Gilat’s SkyEdge has already been integrated with C-COM’s iNetVu mobile system, and its simple to use one-button operation, providing acquisition within less than 5 minutes, was the best answer for the field hospitals’ needs,” the statement said.
According to C-COM officials, these technologies were not available overnight; it took several years to develop and eventually implement. C-COM created a completely new antenna platform for its commercial customers back in 2009 when engineers started to address the operational requirements for Ka, using little to nothing of the design from their existing legacy Ku systems, which still to date remains in demand.
C-COM officials contend that the new light-weight antenna employs an absolute minimum number of parts, utilizes a belt drive system, providing near zero backlash, with a positive placement control. C-COM has also invested in new castings, and all of the parts were engineered to deliver the performance mandated by Eutelsat and Viasat.
During the testing process, C-COM worked with a number of dealers who began marketing the new products throughout Europe, which is when Eutelsat first took notice.
“Eutelsat realized there would be great demand for the product from the ESNG market (Electronic Satellite News Gathering), and thus a new reseller group called NewsSpotter was developed. This group would be authorized by Eutelsat to sell the new Ka-band service in a mobile environment to companies who would purchase bandwidth on demand,” according to a written statement from C-COM.
Although Klein declined to comment on specifics, he said he remains optimistic about future growth noting that a number of new deals are in the works.
Get the latest Via Satellite news!
Subscribe Now