Since launching commercial service in September 2014, O3b Networks has brought up more than 18 African customers in Chad, Somalia, Madagascar, DRC, Congo, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Angola. The company said these customers have contracted over 7Gbps of internet capacity, supplementing existing satellite links from GEO systems and, in many cases, fiber connections with limited reliability.
O3b is a satellite-based global network, but the company’s satellites are much closer to the earth than geostationary (GEO) satellites, reducing latency, increasing internet speed and improving voice and video quality. Internet and mobile data performance over the network rivals the throughput and latency of long-haul fiber, while avoiding the high costs of laying fiber cables across difficult terrain.
