Page 114 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2022

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

access,” said VCEDA Executive Director/ school districts, resulting in a grand total of “Discussions concerning the funding
General Counsel Jonathan Belcher in a 719 children in four counties being provided being received by VCEDA in FY2023 have
statement. “Previously, in FY2022, VCEDA access to Starlink, including connections resulted in several of the county industrial
also received $500,000 for this purpose made possible by leveraged funding from development authorities expressing a
and developed the VCEDA Education and the participating localities of Dickenson, desire to apply for the funds for the Starlink
Telehealth Access fund to administer the Russell, Tazewell and Wise counties, projects in their respective jurisdictions,”
funds being received from the state.” The according to ACI. The grant application Belcher said in a statement, noting Wise
first application approved from the fund was approved by VCEDA and closed recently will County’s IDA was the first to submit an
for the Appalachian Council for Innovation further that program. After the initial two- application. “Data shows students with
(ACI) for its project to provide the initial low year subscription has passed, individual high-speed broadband perform at one-half
earth orbit Starlink Satellite Internet service account holders will be responsible for letter grade better than those without,” Wise
to unserved and/or underserved children in the ongoing monthly subscription unless County Industrial Development Authority
the VCEDA footprint. The project was done other support mechanisms are found, Executive Director Brian Falin said in a
by ACI in association with various local according to the Wise County application. statement.

Second Time Lucky: AngoSat-2 Enters Space

Angola launched its AngoSat-2 Mario Augusto da Silva Oliveira, AngoSat- of satellite services will go hand-in-hand
communications satellite on12 October 2’s services will contribute to reducing with investment in national broadband
aboard the Proton-M Blok DM-03 the digital divide by extending ICT access infrastructure, including submarine and
rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, to more Angolans, while development terrestrial fiber-optics.
Kazakhstan, reports Africanews.space.
The high-throughput satellite (HTS) is
based on the Eurostar-3000 platform with a
design lifespan of 15 years, enabling near-
complete Ku-Band coverage of southern
Africa plus C-Band coverage of the entire
African continent and a significant part
of southern Europe. The ill-fated USD328
million AngoSat-1 orbiter was launched
in December 2017 but was lost shortly
afterwards, prompting AngoSat-2 to be
built by Russia’s Reshetnev Information
Satellite Systems at no cost to Angola.
According to statements from Angolan
officials including the telecoms minister

Starlink Launches Services in Guadeloupe, Martinique

Starlink has launched its satellite on a legal technicality, after the original
internet access service in Martinique and decision to grant two frequency bands to
Guadeloupe, with a planned debut in French the company was over-ruled by France’s
Guiana in 2023. The company charges highest administrative court, the Conseil
EUR450 (USD446) for equipment and d’Etat. The authority said that the decision to
connection, with a monthly subscription of award the license ‘could impact the market
EUR65; the satellite broadband link provides of access to high-bandwidth internet and
download speeds of between 50Mbps and affect the interests of end users’, therefore
200Mbps. Arcep granted SpaceX’s Starlink it would have been required by the law to
satellite broadband project a ten-year carry out public hearings before granting
license covering the 10.95GHz-12.70GHz the licenses, a step which Arcep omitted.
and 14GHz-14.5GHz bands to provide Starlink secured a new concession (for the
internet in France in February 2021. In April 10.95GHz-12.70GHz and 14GHz-14.5GHz
2022, however, the concession was revoked bands) in June 2022.

114 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022