Vodafone and Amazon join forces to compete with Starlink in Africa.
Vodafone and Amazon join forces to compete with Starlink in Africa.
Vodafone and Amazon join forces to compete with Starlink in Africa.
Vodafone is collaborating with Amazon’s Low Earth Orbit satellite communications effort and Project Kuiper to bring 4G/5G services to more users in Europe and Africa.
Project Kuiper claims to connect geographically distributed cellular antennas to the main telecom networks of the firms. This means that Vodafone and Vodacom will be able to provide 4G/5G services in more locations without having to invest in the time and money required to build out fibre-based or fixed wireless links back to the core networks.
The CEO of Vodacom Group, Shameel Joosup, stated that “collaborating with Project Kuiper gives us an exciting new path to scale our efforts, using Amazon’s satellite constellation to quickly reach more customers across the African continent.”
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The Vodacom consortium intends to employ Project Kuiper’s high-bandwidth, low-latency satellite network to deliver the benefits of 4G/5G access to places that would otherwise be difficult and expensive to serve via traditional fiber or microwave methods. Amazon anticipates that Project Kuiper services will be beta tested with select consumers by the end of 2024, and Vodafone and Vodacom intend to participate in that testing through this agreement.
The collaboration comes at an interesting moment when Starlink, a competitor to Project Kuiper, is facing regulatory opposition, particularly in southern Africa. South Africa has prohibited the import, resale, and use of the service, Zimbabwe has issued a warning citing licensing, and Botswana has stated that the service has yet to receive the necessary licensee despite preparation to launch in the country in Q3 2023.
The Vodacom group intends to employ Project Kuiper’s high-bandwidth, low-latency satellite network to provide the benefits of 4G/5G access to places that would otherwise be difficult and expensive to serve via traditional fibre or microwave methods. Amazon anticipates that Project Kuiper services will be beta tested with select consumers by the end of 2024, and Vodafone and Vodacom intend to participate in that testing through this agreement.
The collaboration comes at an interesting moment when Starlink, a competitor to Project Kuiper, is facing regulatory opposition, particularly in southern Africa. South Africa has prohibited the import, resale, and use of the service, Zimbabwe has issued a warning citing licensing, and Botswana has stated that the service has yet to receive the necessary licensing despite planned.
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