Thuraya has expanded its satellite telecommunications southward in Africa.
2004-05-19

Thuraya has announced that it has expanded its satellite telecommunications southward in Africa, thereby providing blanket coverage in Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, Burundi, Seychelles, Tanzania, Congo, Malawi and partial coverage in Maldives, Angola, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

The expanded service, which is now commercially operational, augments the African footprint, bringing the total number of countries under the new Thuraya footprint to more than 110 countries, spanning Europe, North, Central Africa and large parts of Southern Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and from end of this year, will further grow to cover the Far East as well.



The expansion was made possible through the successful launch of Thuraya's second satellite into orbit in June of last year, which was followed by a smooth transfer of traffic from the Thuraya 1 to the modified Thuraya 2 satellite. The new satellite beams over Africa are technically operational just as Thuraya's service providers are preparing for a full roll out of commercial service.

The decision to extend the African footprint deep into Southern Africa comes as part of Thuraya's commitment to providing coverage to 90 percent of the continent.
Last October, Thuraya announced its imminent expansion into East and South East Asia by the end of this year, in response to high demand and growth opportunities in these new market segments.
The expanded Far East footprint includes Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Indonesia, Japan, Lao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Koreas, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore as well as large area of Eastern Russian Federation.