Thuraya in Africa
March 1999
A major event for Thuraya last month was African Telecom Summit in Accra, Ghana, which addressed the continent’s need for improved communications, as well as its strong potential market for advanced mobile technology.
Held under the banner "Beyond Privatisation: the Realities of Effective Telecom Delivery" the summit, held from March 2 to 4 th, addressed critical telecom issues and explored the continent’s growth scenario in the coming millenium.
Thuraya acted as "golden sponsor" of the event, and had a high profile presence that included a talk by Mr. Fahim Fantar, Thuraya Business Development Consultant entitled ‘Thuraya, the National GMPCS network", and participation in a panel discussion on "Telecentres and Options for Rural Telecommunications."
Mr. Fantar in his presentation focused on how GMPCS can be profitable while taking into account reasonable investment levels and respect for local operators.
The solution is a regional GMPCS system based on geosynchronous satellite configuration and a user terminal handset that integrates an accurate GPS tool, he said.
"The geosynchronous satellite configuration grants a low cost system and a reliable GMPCS network for a low end user call price," he said. "By integrating the GPS location facility to within 100 meters accuracy inside the handset, the local operators providing Thuraya services as an option to their subscribers will identify the traffic through Thuraya generated inside their countries, as well as the revenues similar to their existing national networks."
The event was inaugurated by the Vice President of Ghana, while keynote addresses were delivered by the Secretaries General of the ITU and the Pan-African Telecom Union, the Chairmen of the GMPCS MoU and GSM MoU, as well as high level government officials from nine African states.
Besides some the world’s leading telecom providers, the event was attended by Arabsat, the World Bank, HNS and other prominent institutions.
Some of the issues discussed were "The GMPCS Revolution," "Year 2000—Is Africa Ready," "Market Access in Africa," and "Financing Telecom Investments."