Chad based Presta Bist gets high-speed broadband through O3b Networks

O3b Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of SES, announced that its customer, Presta Bist Telecoms, has signed an agreement to significantly increase its contracted capacity in response to rising demand for reliable, high-speed broadband in the Republic of Chad. This upgrade is a 66% increase in capacity over the initial contract, enabling Presta Bist to continue to fulfill the growing connectivity needs of both consumer and business customers.

Presta Bist is a growing Internet Service Provider ISP in the Chad market and has emerged as a leading provider of high-performance internet service in the region by offering high-throughput, low latency connectivity over the O3b satellite-enabled network. The service quality Presta Bist is able to provide because of O3b has been a major driver of economic development for Presta Bist and for the ISP’s customers.

In an effort to expand the reach of reliable broadband throughout Chad and the Sahel region, O3b and Presta Bist hosted a joint workshop and demonstration in 2016. This capacity upgrade comes as a direct result of that demonstration, and its impact on more than 80 attendees from across the telecommunications industry.

“The results we have seen since we initiated service with O3b have been incredible. Our customers are reporting a significant increase in reliability and are thrilled with the opportunities available to them with this high-speed, reliable broadband,” said Rajab Moussa, CEO of Presta Bist.

“Technology advancements like this have accelerated development in Chad, and have propelled the region’s economic development. As our infrastructure continues to advance and more fibre is installed through the country, we have no doubt that we will still rely on O3b as a major provider of connectivity in this region.”

“As the first Sahel country to deploy O3b services, Presta Bist has established itself as an innovator in the region. In the past year, we have seen rapid development throughout Africa and with capacity upgrades like this one, we expect exponential escalation.” said Carole Kamaitha, Vice President Africa, O3b Networks.

“We are proud of our strong relationship with Presta Bist, and pleased to help provide its customers with dramatically better connectivity than they have previously experienced with other satellite links. We are looking forward to improvement in both social and economic development in the region.”

Previously, O3b Networks announced the company’s high performance satellite-enabled network transformed the match-day experience for tens of thousands of football fans during the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nations. The O3b service was deployed in the northernmost stadium hosting matches, the Stade d’Oyem facility in Oyem, Gabon.

The stadium was built to provide a venue for the regional population, but did not have access to a fibre connection, and was without broadband internet just before the first match. A high throughput broadband link was necessary for international transmission of the game, and was also required by journalists covering the match.

Before the first kickoff, however, event organisers delivered an equal internet experience to other match locations for everyone at the stadium, from fans to workers to journalists, by deploying connectivity from O3b Networks, the only company able to provide low latency, high throughput internet in hard to reach places.

The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations was the 31st Africa Cup of Nations event, organised by the Confederation of African Football, and held in 4 stadiums across the nation of Gabon. The Oyem stadium has capacity for 20,500 attendees for each match, and was purpose-built for the 2017 tournament. As the venue was to host massive crowds, but lacked adequate internet connectivity, it was the perfect first deployment for O3bFastConnect in Africa, rapidly bringing high-performance connectivity to any remote spot. Within a couple of days after the last match, the O3bFastConnect terminal had been relocated to Libreville, providing connectivity to another area of the country.

O3b Networks is a satellite-based global network, but the company’s satellites are much closer to the earth than traditional geostationary satellites, greatly reducing latency which improves internet performance and the Quality of Experience for end users. Because of the upload and download speed capabilities of the O3b network, far outstripping the abilities of other satellite-based networks, internet and mobile data performance rivals the throughput and latency of long-haul fibre, while avoiding the high costs and long timeframes of laying fibre cables across difficult terrain.

With first-rate internet connectivity, event attendees were able to share photos and videos, watch replays from around the tournament, and use social media to participate in a variety of activities. Even with all of the digital activity in and around the stadium, at its peak only 77% of available capacity was being used, meaning attendees had no worries about running out of available bandwidth. And while internet traffic typically skews heavily towards downloads, fans and journalists alike took advantage of O3b’s upstream performance, uploading and sharing content at a much higher rate than they downloaded.

O3b Networks is a global managed data communications service provider operating both space based and terrestrial networks. O3b offers modern carrier-grade IP communications services and applications to ISPs, telco, governments and enterprises in the most remote and inaccessible parts of the planet. O3b Networks is a wholly owned subsidiary of SES.

Presta Bist Telecoms is an Internet Service Provider and Pay TV operator, delivering high-availability broadband to consumers and companies across Chad. Through its national network of Wireless broadband, VSAT, and soon fibre, Presta Bist Telecoms offers a high-end, innovative offering: 1G Fibre, internet, VPN, and hosting. The company’s mission is to assist customers in the new technological revolution.