South Africa needs $300 million (~R5 billion) to fund its planned space communication satellite and Sentech is calling for private partners to come on board in a project that will benefit the whole southern African region.
Although it is not yet clear when the ambitious project will commence, Flenk Mnisi, the head of media and broadcast at Sentech, the state-owned signal distributor for the local broadcasting sector, said the project would be a partnership between the public and private sector.
"From an investment perspective, we are looking at a capital investment of $300 million. This amount will cover the lifespan of the satellite, which is 20 years," Mnisi told delegates at the Africa Tech Week.
Satellites relay signals for telecommunications, broadcasting, weather forecasting, navigation, scientific research and earth observation, and South Africa largely relies on services provided by foreign countries.
"We propose that we go on a private-public partnership model and invite other players, such as entrepreneurs. The idea is to build a medium-sized high-throughput satellite that will cover the region and be able to provide services," Mnisi said.
"We are trying to bridge the digital gap and ensure that rural areas and other places outside urban centres are not left out of the digital economy." Mnisi explained that the satellite would provide "complementary technology - not a one-size-fits-all" solution to the country's output of digital technology infrastructure.
This year, South Africa concluded the auction of broadband spectrum, the first in 17 years years, and the additional frequencies are expected to help mobile operators expand capacity and enable the rollout of faster communication technologies, such as 5G.
Mnisi stated that the development of the satellite would be a "long journey" with local and international regulatory hurdles.
"It is our national satellite programme, but we call it the Pan-African satellite because it is intended to cover the whole region."
Earlier this year, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the project would be driven by Sentech in partnership with the National Space Agency and other key stakeholders.
She said owning a satellite would reduce leasing costs from external players for the government and other industries reliant on communication satellite technologies for their businesses and improve information security for our country.
South Africa is currently part of the Regional African Satellite Communications Organisation, which is responsible for by pooling space resources leased mainly from INTELSAT, the international telecommunications satellite consortium that provides satellite services.