Luxembourg-based satellite company, SES, sees Africa as its most promising emerging region globally, and will launch four satellites to cover the continent by 2014, a company spokesman said at the event Africa Cast, taking place at the Cape Town Convention Centre, S. Africa, from the 9-11 November 2011. “We have a huge fleet expansion programme […]
Luxembourg-based satellite company, SES, sees Africa as its most promising emerging region globally, and will launch four satellites to cover the continent by 2014, a company spokesman said at the event Africa Cast, taking place at the Cape Town Convention Centre, S. Africa, from the 9-11 November 2011.
“We have a huge fleet expansion programme and we will launch two additional satellites in the coming six months, one at the end of the year and the other in Q1 next year,” said Christoph Limmer, senior director of market development for Africa.
“The total investment of these two satellites is $1 billion,” Limmer said on the sidelines of the African telecoms conference. It will launch another two satellites by 2014, bringing the total serving Africa to 11, he said. Currently in Africa less than 10% of those with televisions have access to digital broadcasting.
In contrast, about 70% of all homes with televisions in Europe receive digital TV, said Limmer.
“We see quite strong take-up in growth in the broadcasting market here in Africa,” he said, adding that West Africa looked the most promising region on the continent. However, regulatory challenges were a concern as African governments tried to beat a 2015 deadline set by the International Telecommunication Union to move from analogue to digital television broadcasting.
“There are certainly regulatory issues. For example, not every country in Africa allows you to broadcast free-to-air channels,” he said. “Look at Ethiopia, a huge potential market with millions and millions of homes, but highly regulated by the government and still very closed.”
