MTN has announced that it is in talks with various Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband companies regarding partnerships to provide coverage in under-served areas.
This includes Starlink, Lynk Global, AST SpaceMobile, and Eutelsat OneWeb.
MTN Group chief technology and information officer Mazen Mroué said they are in talks over two distinct yet complementary LEO-based solutions.
“The first employs direct-to-cellular technology to augment network access in traditionally under-served regions,” Mroué stated.
He emphasised that the technology is device-agnostic and compatible with existing mobile devices, requiring no special modifications.
“The second solution uses LEO satellites to provide critical fixed connectivity for enterprise customers and efficient backhaul connectivity for MTN cellular sites,” he continued.
“This is particularly relevant in remote and rural locations, where it offers a more affordable and efficient alternative.”
Mroué said they have upcoming direct-to-cell trials with Lynk Global in South Africa and Ghana.
They are also in talks with AST SpaceMobile for trials in Nigeria and South Sudan.
“Concurrently, there are ongoing engagements with SpaceX’s Starlink, with enterprise-grade trials underway in Rwanda and Nigeria,” said Mroué.
“In parallel, we are advancing discussions with Eutelsat OneWeb for a planned pilot in South Africa.”
Mroué said they conducted a successful trial in Liberia on MTN’s spectrum with Lynk Global in the remote village of Gowehn.
They received a cell broadcast message on a device, illustrating the capacity to send and receive text messages.
“The text was an initial use case; we have plans to carry out proof-of-concept trials for voice and data in some key markets,” stated Mroué.
He said that while the typical financing model would be a revenue-sharing one — where the customer is MTN’s and the satellite infrastructure belongs to the LEO satellite vendor — their agreements are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
“We are also collaborating with Omnispace to explore the use of S-band for satellite services to expand MTN’s portfolio of wireless service in both MTN and Omnispace’s markets,” said Mroué.
“The companies will explore combining MTN’s terrestrial mobile networks with Omnispace’s non-terrestrial network, leveraging 3GPP standards to service consumer mobile and enterprise IoT services.”
“We will also consider opportunities to work together in developing and growing an ecosystem of devices and software.”
Mroué said that while they are excited by the opportunity LEO networks present, most of these satellite providers will offer 4G as the mainstream technology.
“Which means that we need to continue our work to get affordable 4G devices to customers,” he said.
MTN joins Vodacom and its parent company, Vodafone, in announcing various LEO initiatives across Africa.
Vodafone collaborated on the first two-way voice call using unmodified smartphones via AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite in April.
In September, Vodacom and Vodafone announced a partnership with Amazon’s Project Kuiper to bring 4G and 5G connectivity to under-serviced areas in Africa and Europe.
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