Angola: AngoSat-2 satellite built by Russia now ready to enter service
December 5th 2022
African countries are turning to space technology to accelerate the penetration of telecom services, as the digital transformation continues on the continent. Angola had already launched a first telecom satellite in 2017, but it got lost in space.
AngoSat-2, Angola’s second communications satellite, is now ready for use after successfully undergoing a series of tests. This was recently revealed by Mário Augusto Oliveira, Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, during the seminar “National Space Program: Values and Benefits”.
The satellite’s services are expected to cover the whole of the African continent and a significant part of southern Europe in C-band. It will also provide almost complete coverage of southern Africa in Ku-band.
Built by the Russian company Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company (ISS-Reshetev), AngoSat-2 was launched on October 12 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft comes in compensation for the AngoSat-1 satellite, worth 327.6 million USD, lost in space shortly after its launch in 2017.
Its commissioning should notably contribute to the development of telecommunications, agriculture and other sectors of the Angolan economy, in a context marked by the acceleration of digital transformation. The new infrastructure should also allow Angola to be autonomous in terms of space technology while strengthening its position in the African market. The country will indeed be able to resell the additional capacity of its satellite to other African countries.
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