[kictanet] Africa's first communications satellite fails

[Robert Alai]

Africa's first communications satellite fails
Adole Hassan

17 November 2008 | EN

The satellite was expected to boost telecommunications in Nigeria and
the rest of Africa

Flickr/DavidDennisPhotos.com
[ABUJA] Africa's first communications satellite has suffered an
energy failure just 18 months after its launch.

The solar panels have malfunctioned on the Chinese-manufactured
satellite according to Alhassan Zaku, Nigeria's minister of state for
science and technology.

The NIGCOMSAT-1 satellite was launched from China in 2007 (see
Satellite launches boost African communications) amidst optimism that
it would aid development by linking up rural communities and
progressing telemedicine and long-distance learning. There were also
ambitious commercial goals. But these are now dashed, say
commentators.

Ahmed Rufai, managing director of Nigeria Communication, which runs
the satellite management company, said the satellite was powered down
on Sunday night (9 November) after it was discovered that the
batteries were failing faster than expected.

But Nigeria's ThisDay newspaper (12 November) claims that the
satellite has already fallen out of its orbit and been destroyed in
order to prevent it from harming others. The paper quotes unnamed
sources who allege that the Chinese manufacturers of the satellite
used poor-quality materials.

Akin Soyinka, chair of non-governmental organisation Nigeria Internet
Watch, told SciDev.Net that the loss of the satellite would damage
the country's efforts to bridge the digital divide -- see African
action plan pushes satellites for development).

"The federal government invested a lot of resources in building the
satellite — to the detriment of education and health in the last four
years — with the hope of bridging the digital divide and accelerating
the country's development," Soyinka said. "But now all that is gone
down the drain."

The 40 billion Nigerian Naira (US$240 million) satellite was entirely
government-owned but was "fully insured," said Rufai.

A geostationary satellite, it was supposed to work for 15 years, and
is officially monitored by a ground control station in Abuja,
Nigeria, with backup stations in China, Italy, northern Nigeria and
the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) satellite
applications centre in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa.

Zaku told SciDev.Net that Internet service providers in Nigeria and
telecommunications companies who were using the satellite would be
moved to other satellites if engineers confirm that it is unfixable.

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