Zimbabwe is a southern African country which lies between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. A country of 13 million people, Zimbabwe has experienced political and social instability which has slowed the development of its fixed line infrastructure.
Despite the slow development of fixed Internet access, there has been a rapid increase in mobile penetration and the country is stands at 110 percent. MNOs have expanded 3G services and have also introduced LTE. Today, around half the population has access to the Internet, mostly through the use of mobile networks and smartphones. MNOs are working hard to promote applications such as m-banking and m-commerce. Though Internet is readily available in Harare, move out from major towns and cities and access to connectivity drops away, leaving those in more rural areas without basic access to communications. Though the country is landlocked, it does have access to submarine cables via neighbouring countries.
Agriculture & Mining Demand Connectivity
Zimbabwe is dependent upon agriculture and mining and the country produces a range of crops such as tobacco, corn, cotton, wheat, coffee and sugar cane. Both the farming and mining communities have been hit by poor economic conditions and the adoption of satellite technology could enable both industries to become more operationally efficient. In terms of mining, connectivity via VSAT can help greatly with day-to-day operations and the monitoring of different aspects of the mine to improve productivity. VSAT can also be used for health and safety purposes, providing connectivity when it is needed most and can be used to enhance miner welfare.
For farming communities, access to the Internet can transform local communities by opening up a small farming business to a wider market. It can offer farmers the opportunity to trade further afield and to build up their farming businesses. In addition, the Internet brings with it a huge amount of information and learning resources that can be used to improve farming techniques and to provide advice when required. It also improves communications so that farmers can keep in touch with and cooperate with other farmers and share experiences.
For a country like Zimbabwe, VSAT can be a very valuable communications tool. Not only can it connect businesses, but it can connect remote communities, opening up opportunities that they have not previously had access to. By installing a VSAT network from BusinessCom Networks, improvements can be made in many aspects of daily life and with installers locally available in Zimbabwe, we can provide this opportunity rapidly and cost-effectively.
BusinessCom offers the following satellite internet services in Zimbabwe:
- Broadband Internet access
- Toll quality VoIP and Videoconferencing with CIR
- Reliable SLA through FDMA and D-TDMA with 98% efficiency on payload
- Star, Mesh and hybrid Star/Mesh topology networks
- Full support of accelerated VPN, CITRIX, ERM and other business applications
- Highly secure operation with optional AES embedded encryption
- Global C-Band coverage and sub-Sahara Ku-Band
- Landing at top tier redundant IP facilities in Western Europe and United States
- Sentinel-based QoS, bandwidth management and optimization platform
