Africom launches new satellite product
Givemore Nyanhi
...users association urges corporate world to take social
responsibility seriously
INFORMATION communication and technology company, Africom,
launched its newest product “Afrisat” that is expected
to revolutionise internet, intranet, e-mail and data transfer
between users.
“Afrisat” offers connectivity through the Very
Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) network. Paul Chiobvu, Africom
chief operating officer, said the new system would cater for
the obvious gaps in the provision of information and communication
services.
“ There were obvious gaps in our business environment
because the services were not available, or they were available
but inadequate and sometimes not reliable.”
He said the entrance of the new product, that will have a
satellite earth station in the capital Harare, had the ability
to effectively reach out to remote and isolated areas across
the nation.
“ Afrisat has the capacity to provide services to most
sectors of the economy such as agriculture, mining and tourism
that have all been undergoing changes. New mines are being
opened, vast lands are being opened up for agriculture and
tourism when it recovers will need advanced communication
systems when the tourists start coming.”
The new product will enhance internal connectivity and branch
connectivity, premises connectivity and allow communication
in isolated areas of the nation where the satellite dishes
are in place. Africom was formed in 1994 as a small communication
company that provided communication services such as network
audits, design and consultancy services.
In 1998, it became the first company in Zimbabwe to acquire
a Wireless Communication System and in 2001, it was also among
the first companies to be granted a licence by Posts and Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) to provide national
and international data services Last year saw the company
consolidating its participation in the sector through the
introduction of a fibre optic network and wireless broadband
technology. Other traditional players in the information and
communication sector in the country include mobile and telecommunications
providers Econet, Telecel and Netone as well as Celsys.
Boyman Moncana, Africom chairman, speaking at the same occasion,
said the company would continue to research and invest in
communication technology to subsist in the current economic
challenges the company is facing.
“ We will also take part in infrastructure development
to participate in regional and international markets to leverage
our national economic growth. Afrisat is in the interests
of national economic development and security.” Besides
being used in communication the new product is used by mostly
military personnel in most developed countries because of
its advanced security features. Rueben Gwatidzo, president
of the Telephone Users Association (TUA) said the association
welcomed the contributions that many people continue to make
towards changing the quality of communication and information.
He said the provision of communication services such as “Afrisat”
would also go towards increasing foreign currency inflows
in the country. He was however quick to point out that the
users of the new services should have easy, reliable and affordable
services.
In the past few months some mobile phone service providers
attracted negative media attention for what users termed ‘
high and unreasonable tariff charges ‘.
The situation has been ameliorated to a large extent but isolated
cases of high tariff charges still occur albeit on a smaller
scale.
Gwatidzo said: “ Day in and day out we see the tariff
charges increasing. In some cases we don’t get connectivity,
we don’t communicate, the phone keeps on ringing, but
the charges don’t stop coming.” He said communication
companies needed to take up corporate social responsibility
seriously.
“ Mobile phone and other communication users should
come together and form a smart partnership. Users, service
providers and government should all come together. There should
be service level agreements that have penalties for failure
to deliver. Let’s remove barriers for those who can deliver.
Lets have standards so that those who fail to deliver are
thrown out.” The revolution in the information communication
and technology sector really began in the early nineties with
the liberalisation of the economy under the aegis of Esap.
The liberalisation allowed the private sector, mostly the
indigenous and formerly disadvantaged, to participate in the
wealth creation process in virtually all sectors of the economy.
Hence, the rapid growth was not only evident in the technology
sector alone, but was also a reality in the financial services
sector.
While the seeming boom of the financial services sector appears
to have come to a rude halt, the expansion of the information
communication sector appears to be scaling new ground.
Potraz was formed in 2000, at the height of the technology
expansion, through a statutory instrument to regulate the
sector. The authority regulates the services provided not
the technology, at least according to a Potraz official.
“ We regulate services not technology because it is
changing rapidly therefore we cannot catch up with it. What
we can do is licence the services.” The official said
Africom’s new product would allow advanced communication
in the rural areas joining other companies like the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) that is currently promoting
the rural electrification programme.
27 June 2004 The mirror.
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