Page 62 - SAMENA Trends - January 2022

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Digicel Satellite Link Restores International Calling in Tonga

Digicel has confirmed that limited international calling Jannif stated that international calls were now possible on the
capabilities have been restored in Tonga, and that it is working islands of Tongapatu and ‘Eua via a satellite link which uses 2G
on improving capacity. The operator group’s regional CEO Shally networks. Currently only 400 calls can be made at any one time,
but Jannif confirmed that Digicel is receiving additional amplifiers
and satellite modems to boost output power and capacity.
TeleGeography reported that the islands of Ha’apai and Vava’u will
be connected in the coming days by additional satellite antennas,
although Jannif noted that damage to Tonga’s international
submarine cable must be repaired before normal services can
resume, saying: “We expect to put up all basic services in the next
few days and then we hope to install more equipment to bring
GPRS and 3G basic data services up so bank ATMs, EFTPOS and
other services can be up in Tonga.” On 15th January, Tonga was
hit by devastating tsunamis created by several eruptions of the
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which is situated 65km
north of Tonga’s main island Tongatapu.

SpaceX Completes 2nd

Starlink Mission of 2022

SpaceX successfully launched 49 Starlink
satellites to low Earth orbit Launch Complex
39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in
Florida. The Falcon 9 booster supporting
this mission previously launched GPS III-3,
Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, and six Starlink
missions. The booster was recovered on
the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship in the
Atlantic. Each of Falcon 9’s fairing halves
previously supported one Starlink mission.

Argentina Takes Agricultural IoT into Orbit

Argentina has joined the market for satellite-supported Internet a non-profit society that represents more than 2,200 industries
of Things (IoT) services in agriculture with the launch of its first from different sectors. The pico-satellite project was designed to
pico-satellite. The satellite was created by the firm Innova Space, be exportable and can contribute to the process of substituting
a satellite services company that offers IoT solutions for maritime, imports of equipment and services, according to a government-
environmental, mining, oil, gas and agricultural applications. It supplied press release. The term picosat is usually applied to
was launched from the SpaceX platform at Cape Canaveral in the artificial satellites with a wet mass between 0.1 and 1 kg. In this
US late last week. The General San Martín pico-satellite (named case the PocketQube satellites weigh around 1kg and measure
after a famous 18th-century military commander) will enable approximately 50cm x 50cm x 150cm. Productive development
agricultural companies in provinces or areas without internet minister Matías Kulfas pointed out that the country is making a
access to apply IoT technology to optimize production. According strong commitment to the development of the satellite sector. The
to news website BNamericas, the San Martín pico-satellite project ministry has allocated around 50 million pesos (about $480,538)
is being financed by the Mar del Plata Neutron start-up accelerator to the pico-satellite project. In fact the launch is expected to be
run by Grupo Núcleo, a partner of the Argentine Chamber of the starting point for a constellation of 100 pico-satellites to be
Electronic, Electromechanical and Lighting Industries (CADIEEL), sent into space over the next three years.

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