Eutelsat to provide Internet service to Ethiopia after launching new satellite in December

Paris-headquartered Eutelsat is extending talks with the government of Ethiopia to provide Internet service by using its new satellite that it utilizes to cover the African region.

If everything falls in line, Eutelsat will launch a new satellite named Konnect by the end of December 2019. The renowned satellite operator will utilize Konnect to provide broadband Internet connection everywhere within Africa.

The Chief Commercial Offer of Eutelsat, Philippe Oliva said that their operation is already opened in several countries in Africa and Ethiopia is going to be added soon. “We are starting the negotiation to be totally transparent. We finalized negotiations in other African countries that is why we opened broadband connectivity market in Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast. We are expanding and negotiating with multiple governments to deploy satellite internet. The good news is that it could be very interesting for the Ethiopia government that is why we are going to start the negotiation,” Philippe Oliva said, as reported by New Business Ethiopia.

“Because the way satellite has been designed, we use the gateway to reach the satellite in terms of broadband signals that will go up before going down to the country. This gateway could be located in Ethiopia,” Oliva added.

According to him, the partnership the country is negotiating with the Ethiopian government allows the government to easily manage its own satellite Internet gateway. “We are going to continue to invest in the future with the most impressive evolution that we would have when we think of the future of broadcast,” he cited.

Eutelsat is currently providing over 200 channels for Ethiopia of which 67 are Ethiopian channels. 47 channels are exclusive. Eutelsat also provides 65 religious channels with 85 international channels.