Rascomstar provides Bandwidth Lease Service across the African continent, with C-band coverage over the whole of Africa plus two Ku Band spot beams fully covering the northern and southern regions of the African continent. Cross-strap capacity is also available between C-band and Ku-band transponders with access into southern Europe.
Typical services include IP connectivity for E-Services, TV broadcasting, GSM backhauling and private Networks for both Government and corporate organizations.
What makes this solution distinct from other leasing providers, is our satellite’s prime orbital position of 2.9 East, and Satellite beam foot print covering the entire African continent and adjacent islands. The key advantage of the Rascomstar satellite is the orbital location at 2.9E which provides perfect coverage across the whole African continent with high elevation angles and minimal transmission losses.
The RascomStar GSM Extension Service is a solution for Mobile Network Operators to cost effectively and sustainably extend their networks to Rural Communities with low ARPU. This solution combines Rascomstar innovative GSM technology using standard BTSs, the RSQ satellite terminals and the efficient management of the space segment. The remote terminals are designed to be completely off-grid with solar power operation and Pay As You Go [PAYG] satellite backhaul connectivity enabling GSM operators to have ease of deployment with low OPEX operational and maintenance costs.
The RascomStar Telephony Extension Service (TES) is a solution intended to provide economically viable Fixed line telephony extension (voice and data) to rural and under-served areas in Africa. The solution low cost terminals operate on solar power and provide Pay As You Go ‘by the minute’ satellite connectivity with up to four fixed line voice lines and one data access point back to the National PSTN network. The solution is suitable for very small rural communities (population 100-1000) and is compliant with many regulatory universal access requirements for under-served areas.
Mobile Network Operators frequently need to implement new GSM sites to extend their coverage. Whenever the fiber or microwave infrastructure cannot reach these areas or is not cost efficient, satellite backhaul becomes the solution either as main transmission path or simply as backup to secure the GSM traffic.
RascomStar provides a full set of solutions for the Mobile Network Operators, ranging from simple SCPC carriers to full optimized point to multipoint IP solutions whenever there are multiple sites to be covered.
In order to optimize the bandwidth, data and voice compression techniques are adapted to the protocols used by the Operators.
VSAT is the appropriate solution for Internet, VPN or Enterprise Networks where other transmission systems are not available. RascomStar provides a full end to end managed service using SCPC or TDM/TDMA technologies from its European teleports.
As one-stop-shop service, Rascomstar will provide:
RascomStar, in partnership with Forsway and Global Telesat, has built a very cost effective low-end Internet access solution.
The end user, anywhere in Africa, can install a simple 90cm or 1.2m TV dish, connect a Forsway modem and receive the Internet by satellite at up to 10Mbps. The return link is via GSM (GPRS, EDGE, 3G, 4G) through a standard GSM key plugged in the Forsway modem.
The investment is therefore reduced to the bare minimum and all the equipment can be found locally.
The same terminal can also receive DTH TV channels for dual Internet and TV solutions
Rascomstar offer Wi-Fi services via satellite to rural communities where there is no existing internet access, thereby enabling hi-speed connectivity to email and popular social applications like Facebook and WhatsApp. The service is delivered locally via a small VSAT terminal connected to an external Wireless Access Point [WAP] and gives coverage up to 200m from the WAP. The internet source can either be in-country or delivered from one of the Rascomstar partner teleports in Europe. User access to the local Wi-Fi service is by vouchers purchased locally with cash or by on-line by credit card.
The Wi-Fi service terminal can be solar-powered for remote locations or it can be associated with a rural electricity solution as a value-add service and can include remote monitoring of the electricity system for the power supplier.
The Wi-Fi service may also be combined with the rural GSM solution [GES] to deliver both GSM and Wi-Fi services at the same location using the same VSAT (GEFI service). This combined service provides superior connectivity speed for data over the standard GSM EDGE service.
Due to its ideal central location over Africa @ 2.9°East and its unique Ku coverage with the full African being covered in just 2 Ku beams, Rascomstar satellite is perfect for TV broadcast.