Internet driving next space race

The race is on to provide more Africans with internet access, and satellite is a potential delivery system. Photo / Thinkstock

The second great space race is under way. This time, rather than putting a man on the Moon, the aim is to make internet access available to the two-thirds of the world that are not yet connected.

The primary target is Africa, a continent with a land mass the size of the United States, China, India and Europe put together, but with a population of 1.1 billion - fewer people than India alone.

The dispersed population means traditional ways of internet delivery, such as laying fibre cables, are often expensive and impractical.

Satellite broadband offers a more economical solution because, although it is expensive to build and launch satellites, once they are in orbit they can provide internet access over vast areas. Rather than digging up the ground or erecting masts, a satellite dish is all that is required to receive a signal.

Several companies have caught on to this idea.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced his intention to bring the internet to parts of the world that are currently unconnected, as part of his Internet.org initiative.

Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson backs WorldVu's OneWeb project, which aims to put 648 micro-satellites into low Earth orbit to provide high-speed internet and telephone services.

And Google has teamed up with SpaceX, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, which has a similar plan to provide internet access from space.

However, one British company is way ahead of the game. Avanti Communications, a London-based satellite operator, already has a satellite in space covering large parts of Africa - including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi - known as Hylas 2.

Another satellite, Hylas 3, will be live for commercial service next year, and Hylas 4 will be launched in 2017, completing Avanti's coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa.

"From the outset, Avanti's business model was about Africa. The reason for that is the economics, the teledensity, the demographics of Africa strongly favour satellite," said David Williams, Avanti chief executive and co-founder.

"You also have a rapidly growing middle class with the emergence of revenues from offshore oil and gas production, and growing demand for mining products.

"There's plenty of capital in Africa now, so we think we're in the right place."

Avanti launched Hylas 1 in 2011, providing broadband coverage across Europe.

One of the main drawbacks to satellite broadband is latency. Compared with fibre broadband, satellite experiences a delay of about 400 milliseconds, due to the signal having to travel 35,786km to a satellite in geostationary orbit and back to Earth again.

For this reason, in areas where fibre broadband is prevalent, satellite is often regarded as a "fill-in" technology rather than a competitive solution.

Williams claims there are only a few situations where latency really matters - such as high-frequency trading and real-time gaming.

When Avanti launched Hylas 2 in August 2012, it quadrupled Avanti's satellite capacity. The company can now provide coverage to 27 per cent of the world's population and is working to bring e-learning to 250 schools in Tanzania and improve air traffic safety across the continent.