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250,000 high-speed connectionsacross rural regions of thecountry.O3b was developed to deliverhigh-speed connectivity to theworld’s unconnected and underservedmarkets. More thanone-third of the capacity acrossO3b’s initial Medium Earth Orbitconstellation is already sold out.O3b is boosting its growing fleetfrom eight to twelve satellitesand nearly doubling capacityafter raising an additional $137million from confident investors.“O3b has the capacity to fuelour customers’ networks andposition them to meet the increasingdemand for bandwidthand connectivity around theworld,” noted Collar. “Our O3bTrunk solution delivers extraordinarybandwidth flexibility andscalability that allows providersto ramp up their servicesas market demand expands,”Collar added. “Our offering ofmore bandwidth, lower latencyand affordable pricing is eliminatingthe primary barriers toconnectivity and growth in theemerging markets.”O3b is opening up the broadbandpipe and a whole newworld of opportunities. Bandwidthoptions from 100Mbpsto 1.2Gbps are set to drive newbroadband applications, such asvoice, mobile data and fixed lineInternet access, that weren’tavailable before. “There’s noneed for cell towers or fiberinfrastructure with O3b,” notedCollar. “Operators can quicklyand easily expand into newmarkets with everything frombroadband to 3G and 4G services,using O3b’s mobile backhauland IP trunking solutions,”Collar added. Featuring steerableantennas, O3b satellitesoffer tailored beams that canbe moved virtually anywhereservice providers need to deliverOmar Trujillo, O3b’s Regional Vice President in AfricaSimon Maher (R), O3b’s Vice President of Middle East and MajorAccounts signs capacity deal with Jules Maher, CEO of TelecomCook Islandsconnectivity.Fiber from the SkyEtisalat is among the growingnumber of telecom operatorsand ISPs that have alreadysecured a stake of O3b capacityworldwide. Across Asia andthe Middle East, Etisalat is empoweringits regional offices todeliver customized broadbandsolutions to local communities.Netcom Africa will deliverhigh-speed connections to oiland gas rigs of the coast ofNigeria. In South Africa, MavoniTechnologies is connecting morethan 2,000 rural schools.“O3b is delivering amazing andempowering technologies, theequivalent of having fiber-opticcable dropping from the sky,”said Jules Maher, CEO of TelecomCook Islands, a governmentprovider serving the remote Pacificnation of the Cook Islands.Vacationing New Zealandersand Australians often travel tothe Cook Islands to leave it allbehind for a while. Reluctantlythey even give up their highspeedbroadband. Fast, affordableInternet access is out ofreach across the remote country,including the main island ofRarotonga – until now.Like Mavoni, Netcom Africa,Etisalat and many other telcos,Telecom Cook Islands has secureda large chunk of bandwidthfrom O3b Networks toprovide speedy web access andmobile data services. “The daysof restricted download speedsand very slow user experiencesare numbered in many emergingmarkets, as O3b preparesto launch its initial fleet,” saidO3b’s Maher. “O3b is enablingInternet access speeds at leastfive to six times faster in marketsaround the world.”Countdown to LaunchO3b’s highly-skilled technicalteam is working acrossthree continents to developand deploy the hardware andsoftware designed to deliveron O3b’s mission to make theInternet accessible and affordablefor all. O3b is shipping itsfirst three gateway antennas toGreece this month and installationat the teleport will start inJanuary.“2012 will certainly be ayear full of important O3bmilestones leading up to launchin early 2013,” said Collar. “It’sexciting to know that soonour gateways and satelliteswill be delivering the highcapacity,IP bandwidth that willultimately play an integral rolein transforming the emergingmarkets,” Collar added. “We’recounting down to the launch ofsomething very special.”December 2011www.teletimesinternational.com15