Eutelsat, the satellite operator, along with its local partners, is set to introduce its OneWeb low-earth orbit (LEO) broadband service in South Africa. The service aspires to offer high-speed, low-latency internet access, particularly in areas where traditional connectivity is challenging or non-existent.
South Africa will be the pioneer on the continent in providing this service through the partnerships, with an aim to expand to more than 35 African countries.
OneWeb’s LEO services are expected to be advantageous for business sectors operating in remote areas, such as retail healthcare, government, mining, agriculture, tourism, and hospitality.
SpaceX’s Starlink product also utilizes LEO satellites. However, while Starlink caters to both individual and business consumers, OneWeb is currently marketed exclusively to enterprises, businesses, and governments.
One significant edge that LEO services have over older satellite Internet services that use geostationary (GEO) satellites is their reduced latency, making them more suitable for applications like video and voice calls.
OneWeb’s satellites operate at an altitude of 1,200km from Earth’s surface, whereas Starlink’s are at 550km and geostationary satellites at 35,000km.
Legacy satellite services experience latencies over 600ms, which hinders applications like videoconferencing and online gaming. Meanwhile, OneWeb’s array can achieve sub-100ms latencies, and Starlink advertises 20–40ms near its ground stations, making them both ideal for latency-sensitive applications.
