AFRIKANET ZAMBIA

VSAT is another option availible for Internet in most of the rural areas

In the early 1990s Zambia was, after South Africa, the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to pioneer the use of Internet services.
There are various connectivity services currently available in Zambia that can be used to connect homes, businesses, and organisations to the Internet. Some of the services have been customised to suit certain categories of customers. It is important to first understand the type, medium, cost, coverage, speed and reliability of each service available from the different Internet Service Providers and mobile phone companies before purchasing a connectivity service. Some different services available are listed below :

• Wired connectivity : Dial-up, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Connection and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL).
• Wireless: WiFi, WiMax and Wireless (Licensed Frequency Bands).
• Satellite (VSAT).

Internet in most of the rural areas of Zambia uses dial-up services via telephone lines as source of connectivity. Dialup services, however, do not reach many rural people as the ground lines have limited coverage. Another option available is the VSAT access through local and foreign ISPs.

Use of VSAT

VSAT is used for a wide range of applications including digital video-broadcasting, local networking and Internet services as well as telephone calls via Internet protocol (VOIP). VSAT services are used across the world as a means of delivering broadband Internet access to locations that cannot get less expensive broadband connections such as ADSL or cable Internet access; usually remote or rural locations.

VSAT can also be used for communication services such as VOIP, pay phone, data transmissions, financial services and topical applications such as telemedicine and Elearning. VSAT can contribute to increasing last mile connectivity between end-users and the VSAT backbone by introducing a Local Area Network (LAN) where multiple users can use a VSAT backbone. VSAT can provide Internet access in remote areas where landlines would be costly to install. KU band can be used to obtain broadband connection in most rural areas of Zambia.

Cost of VSAT

Ku-Band VSAT devices are becoming increasingly more reliable thanks to technological developments, although their quality cannot be comparable to that of C-Band. Depending on the supplier and source C-Band Antenna (dish) and modem could cost between $10,000 – $16,000, while that of Ku-Band ranges from $2000-$6,000). The major difference is the antenna. The antenna ranges from 1.2 metres to 2.4 metres. The larger the antenna, the greater the cost. C-Band can be four times more expensive than Ku-Band. In Zambia, most ISPs provide supplier orders for VSATs though their companies which can provide both technical services and equipment. The cost of VSAT can be minimized by sharing the cost where local users can use shared services.