Africa satellite stories News

OneWeb and TinSky complete first West African LEO satellite gateway

OneWeb’s first SNP gateway in Africa, located in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa is also nearing completion with others in Senegal and Mauritius currently under development.

TinSky Connect has successfully completed the installation of 15 OneWeb antennas and customer-provided equipment at a Satellite Network Portal (SNP) or gateway facility in Accra, Ghana.

Tinsky Connect was selected as OneWeb’s technical engineering partner for its first west African SNP. The gateway is located in Tema on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana on a site of six hectares. The site is owned and run by ComSys who will continue to host the gateway on behalf of OneWeb.

Alan Geldenhuys, Executive Director of TinSky Connect Group stated that OneWeb and TinSky Connect worked closely together in all aspects of bringing the installation of the antenna to completion in just six weeks.

“The site is now commissioning and will be ready for service later in 2022. Tinsky understood the complexity of the multiple satellite ‘hand-offs’ each gateway has to achieve per second and deployed a highly experienced team of field engineers that provided advanced system engineering and technical services addressing OneWeb’s mission-critical SNP gateway needs, at low risk and within budget. The teamwork between OneWeb and TinSky resulted in the project successfully completed and all SNP gateways handed over within the schedule,” commented Geldenhuys.

TinSky Connect is a leading provider of converged communication solutions to Africa’s satellite, wireless and land/airborne mobility markets. With 21 years of experience, the company has played a major role in developing several leading first-to-market satellite solutions and managed service offerings, including managed service platforms, radio telescopes and land/air mobility solutions.

“TinSky has the experience to consistently deliver technically challenging projects on time and within budget. We now look forward to delivering the same high standard of work on our other ongoing projects in other key locations on the continent,” noted Geldenhuys.