O3b Networks recently announced an agreement with RCS-Communication, a leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) in South Sudan, to more than double their bandwidth capacity over the next two years and to implement the first O3bPerformance Services site Diversity solution.
RCS became one of O3b’s pioneering clients when they signed a long-term contract in 2013 (prior to the launch of O3b’s first satellites) and became the second African business to use the O3bTrunk product when the service was commercialised in October 2014.
RCS uses O3bTrunk to connect their WiMAX and High Throughput PtMP networks in the capital, Juba, to the internet. Despite the country’s current challenging times, RCS has nearly exhausted their contracted capacity as demand for bandwidth continues to increase.
With this upgrade, RCS will be the first customer to implement the site Diversity solution, the first of O3b’s solutions to leverage its software defined networking (SDN) platform for intelligent switching across multiple satellite links and part of a suite of O3b Performance Services, said O3b Networks.
Flippie Odendal, Managing Director, RCS-Communication
The timing may seem unexpected for us to upgrade capacity and invest in O3b’s diversity solution, as most players in the South Sudan Telco/ISP sector are currently scaling down due to economic and other challenges.
Carole Kamaitha, Vice President, Africa for O3b Networks
Deploying a unique hybrid solution that integrates O3bTrunk with existing high throughput terrestrial networks will give RCS the best quality network and will set the company apart from other providers in the region.
