South Africa’s state-owned communications company Sentech is looking to set up a public-private partnership to develop a new communications satellite that will serve the entire region.

The US$300 million project will be a collaboration with the South African National Space Agency and other stakeholders, according to Space in Africa.

Flenk Mnisi, Sentech’s head of media and broadcast, says the plan is to build ‘a medium-sized high-throughput satellite that will cover the region. It is our national satellite programme, but we call it the Pan-African satellite because it will cover the whole region’. 

The satellite is expected to have a lifespan of 20 years.

13 September 2022
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