AFSAT Communications joins MWEB Africa

AFSAT Communications Limited, Africa’s largest satellite based Broadband Internet Solutions Provider, is pleased to announce that it has merged with MWEB Africa. Salim Suleman, AFSAT’s CEO stated: “The iWay brand is the best internet service in the market, providing the best speeds and reliability and has over 50,000 satisfied corporate customers across Africa. We will provide MWEB with our satellite network expertise and wide coverage across the continent. We look forward to becoming part of the MWEB Africa Group as we have a common vision for the business, and the resources that MWEB brings will enable the business to expand to a new level.” MWEB’s interest in AFSAT was as a result of AFSAT’s impressive presence in 26 African countries through its cohesive and unmatched distributor network. Through its iWay brand, AFSAT has continued to provide fast, reliable and secure Broadband Internet connectivity solutions to corporates, businesses and residential customers. AFSAT also provides reliable and secure corporate data networks to large banks, corporates and government institutions. AFSAT was set up in 1994 and has subsidiaries in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria. Commenting on the merger, Harry Aucamp, MWEB Africa’s General Manager said: “MWEB Africa’s strategy is to expand its presence and Internet services throughout Africa. The merger will considerably strengthen our representation and underlines our commitment to be a leading player in this dynamic market. AFSAT’s iWay service is a perfect fit with our current MWEB VSAT strategy.” MWEB Africa is part of the Naspers group, a multinational media company with interest in electronic and print media which includes MWEB, MultiChoice, M-Net, SuperSport and Media24. Naspers has its operations across Africa, South America, USA, Europe and Asia. This merger is a good strategic fit, as it will enable AFSAT to expand its market share through delivery of world class communication aimed towards providing iWay customers with an efficient, high quality and reliable service

Making Business Sense
It is Afsat’s understanding, expectation and experience that customers require solutions that enable them to focus on their business – this is Afsat’s promise. Afsat’s expertise is in designing, installing and operating networks that suit customer requirements whether large or small. This can include trade-offs between the use of:
Ku versus C-band | TDMA, FTDMA, DAMA versus dedicated access techniques | STAR verus MESH network topologies | Various modulation techniques | Forward Error Correction and coding schemes and the consideration of various antenna sizes. Customer satisfaction is a key driver for Afsat and has proven successful across all attributes. To keep up with changing customer demands, continuous customer surveys are carried out. Target benchmarks are applied on an annual basis. From these surveys Afsat has received a 90% customer satisfaction rating – a global standard.

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VSAT Communication The Way To Go
"We need to maintain some quality of service parameters, which has to do with speed, traffic and the overall health of that link. How we do it is that from our end to the customers end there has to be an agreed speed", says Afsat's Chief Technical Officer — Job Ndege. Ndege adds that VSAT connections are reputed to be reliable in addition to most other forms of Internet access employing the technology at the final point of connection due to lack of terrestrial infrastructure. "The cost of a satellite link does not depend on where you are. Two points on teh satellite, be they one metre apart or across the globe, essentially require the same amount of bandwidth to service them."

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The Satellite Way Is Our Best Bet
When it comes to broadband internet acess, Salim Suleman is betting on satellites. Eighteen months ago, Salim Suleman received licenses form the Communications Commission of Kenya to offer VSAT services in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda had issued him similar licenses to his firm in 1992 and 1993 respectively, and Angola much earlier. The delay and frustrations of licensing regime in Kenya aside, he is happy with the way the market has turned out for Afsat Communications, the company he founded with the aim of revolutionising internet access services in Africa.

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Afsat Scores With Managed Services
Betty Mwangi, Chief Marketing Officer says, "The reason we prefer to be considered as a communications provider is that markets tend to stereotype solutions based on the technology used. In this case VSAT has been perceived as a rural or remote solution whilst in actual fact, over 70% of our VSAT based solutions are deployed in urban areas. She adds that VSAT technology is a reliable solution though it is vital for the market to know that technology alone does not provide good service. Afsat has tailored its services based on the needs of the Kenyan market. Afsat's service is branded iWay and has been positioned uniquely in the market that the customer is satisfied with the throghput speed. Afsat has a presence in 26 African countries through a distributor and subsidiary network of 32 partners with over 30,000 corporate users connected on over 4,000 VSAt terminal with prospects of expanding the distributor network to cover the whole continent.

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Business Quality Broadband Internet for Africa
Over 70% of Afsat’s clientele are urban based, which is proof that VSAT technology is not only suited for rural solutions, a common misconception. iWay is a unique product in the African market and provides minimum download speed for all iWay users. It is a fast reliable Internet Access solution that focuses on network sizing and traffic prioritization to provide a consistent, high speed Internet Service for Afsat’s customers’ mail, data and voice communications. In addition, iWay offers toll quality, extremely low cost Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) calls on dedicated channels – costing only US$0.05 per minute to the USA and UK. Afsat is a world class international satellite service provider and offers technical support, customer care and service delivery that are amongst the best in Africa. Our key resource is our personnel, who provide the technical expertise and customer service dedication that is required to manage a network of Afsat’s size.

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iWay News | Archive

Edition 10 "Expanded Coverage" | Apr-May 2007

Edition 9 "Simply Powerful" | Feb-Mar 2007

Edition 8 " The Next Level - Service Delivery" | Nov-Dec 2006

Edition 7 "Customer Satisfaction" | Sep - Oct 2006

Edition 6 "Taking You to New Heights" | June - Aug 2006

Edition 5 "On Top of Our Game" | March - May 2006