O3b Wins Big with APAC Island Nations

Details: James Barton; Category: Satellite Networks; 18 January 2017; 8299 views

O3b Networks has announced a series of new deals with telecom operators of island nations in the Asia Pacific Region.

The deals will provide 3G and 4G Mobile Data Services over high-performance, high-availability satellite-enabled networks. Access to O3b’s high-performance connectivity for mobile and broadband internet operators has greatly increased the quality of experience in remote and previously under-served regions, facing geographic or financial barriers to traditional terrestrial connectivity. The surge in deals is down to a combination of new customers, upgrades to existing contracts, technology advancements and increased network availability. Overall O3b Networks the contracts are estimated to generate c.7.5 Gbps of traffic throughout the APAC region, an increase of 30% year-on-year for the total used bandwidth. O3b Networks' main deals are:

Palau Telecoms

Palau Telecoms has increased network capacity for the fifth time in less than 24 months, nearly doubling its service capacity since going live over O3b.

“Our link over O3b enables Palau Telecoms customers to do more than they expected with their internet connection, enabling new solutions for consumers, schools, the tourism industry, and other businesses across the islands,” said Sam Masang, CEO of Palau Telecoms. “We continue to add capacity because our subscribers continue to find new productive ways to use bandwidth, and we expect the trend to continue.”

Palau Telecoms went live over the fiber-equivalent O3b network, enabled by both a cutting edge satellite constellation as well as best-in-class terrestrial infrastructure, in January 2015. The ISP has since upgraded regularly to keep up with subscriber demand, twice each in 2015 and 2016, and already once in 2017.

Our Telekom

Solomon Telekom Company Limited, trading under the name Our Telekom, will be significantly upgrading its receiving antenna, thus increasing the amount of throughput available to subscribers. The decision to move to the larger antenna was made due to the rapid growth in data usage by Our Telekom subscribers.

Our Telekom is a full service provider across the Solomon Islands, the fourth largest nation in the Oceania region with a dispersed population scattered across more than 1,000 islands. Our Telekom is the leading operator in the region, offering internet, voice, data and television services. Our Telekom currently employs a 2.4M antenna to receive the O3b satellite signal, and will upgrade to a 4.5M antenna—the largest O3b offers to customers. This will enable the service provider to reach throughput speeds up to a staggering 2Gbps from a single O3b satellite beam. With such high throughput, coupled with O3b’s ultra-low latency, consumers and businesses across the Solomon Islands will have access to even more bandwidth than the fiber-like service being offered by Our Telekom already.

Timor Telecom

Timor Telecom, the leading Timor-Leste full service operator, will continue providing high-throughput, low-latency connectivity over O3b’s innovative satellite-enabled network. Timor Telecom first started using the O3b network in 2014, and has upgraded capacity several times to keep up with soaring data demand and launch mobile data services. The O3b connection provides Timor Telecom with fiber-equivalent internet performance, which has allowed the company to provide a differentiated 3G service to customers across the country. The company leads the nation in telecommunications innovations, and will continue to use the O3b link to deliver ever-improving Quality of Experience (QoE) for subscribers. Timor Telecom receives more than 1Gbps of international connectivity from O3b, delivered to 2 sites, one in Dilli and another in Baucau. With the redundant terminal sites, Timor Telecom has taken full advantage of O3b’s expertise in network architecture.

“The quality of experience has dramatically increased for Timor Telecom’s subscribers since we went live over O3b,” said Manuel Capitao Amaro, CEO of Timor Telecom. “Our customers benefit from the game changing impact of faster and better quality internet connections coupled with the high reliability we’ve been able to achieve, knowing they can count on their Timor Telecom connection when they need it most.”

“Timor Telecom has worked closely with O3b to deploy a diversified Software Defined Network solution, developing a world-class network architecture here in Timor-Leste,” said Imran Malik, VP, Asia Pacific of O3b Networks. “Bringing advanced mobile internet to Timor is a huge achievement, and O3b Networks is thrilled to be enabling Timor Telecom to continue making enormous strides in their service offerings to an increasing number of customers in the Timor-Leste market.”