SES, RCSC to Provide O3b mPOWER Services in Kazakhstan

Republican Centre for Space Communications (RCSC), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry and SES, the leading global content connectivity solutions provider via satellite, will jointly offer high-speed connectivity services to businesses across Kazakhstan.

The services will be delivered via O3b mPOWER, SES’s second-generation non-geostationary (NGSO) satellite system, and will be made available to various industries, including telecommunications, onshore energy, mining, maritime and enterprises via RCSC, offering these companies to drive digitalisation in the region with expanded high performance network capabilities.

As part of the agreement, SES and RCSC will build an in-country gateway in the Almaty region that will allow Kazakhstan-based companies to quickly deploy and leverage O3b mPOWER’s high-speed and low-latency network connectivity for customer applications and offices, as well as partake in the governmental digital inclusion programmes. The gateway will also enable delivery of services to other bordering countries in the region, including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Launching in Q4 2022, O3b mPOWER is a satellite communication system located in the medium earth orbit (MEO) with a vast service offering. One key service available in Kazakhstan in 2023 is SES’s Trunk mPOWERED, which will enable customers to extend their core networks with uncontended, multi-gigabit services quickly.

“As we expand our partnership with SES, we are proud to open Kazakhstan to new high-speed connectivity solutions via satellite. Our joint expertise and understanding of opportunities in the country allows us to offer satellite-enabled services that will bring new technologies and growth for businesses across Kazakhstan,” said Malik Zhuiriktayev, Chairman of the Board of JSC RCSC.

“Transforming the digital landscape for business across the globe is one of the key mission pillars of the O3b mPOWER system. We are very excited to further strengthen our partnership with RCSC and jointly introduce high-throughput and low-latency satellite-enabled services to Kazakhstan,” said Steve Collar, CEO of SES. “O3b mPOWER is a unique NGSO system – local businesses will have guaranteed access to reliable and high-speed networks, whenever and wherever they need it, allowing them to flexibly and swiftly address the changing connectivity demands of their customers.”

The latest agreement highlights the deepening of the partnership between SES and RCSC to evaluate and bring NGSO capabilities to the country. In 2021, both companies conducted demos connecting remote villages in Kazakhstan using SES’s first-generation O3b satellites, setting record-breaking speeds via satellite recorded in the country (380Mbps downlink and 120Mbps uplink). Additionally, SES also organised a series of 3G and 4G demos with leading mobile network operators, such as Kcell, proving O3b mPOWER’s ability to easily expand local networks with satellite-enabled connectivity.