Using cellular and intelligent satellite technologies, Telecel International Ltd. of New Canaan, Conn., is on track to rehaul communications in Africa.
The company was first to introduce cellular service in Africa 10 years ago, said Justin Dudley, Telecel’s vice president of engineering and research development. Today, while a handful of other companies operate cellular networks in Africa, only Telecel provides direct, seamless communications among African cellular users and between Africa and the rest of the world, he said.
The challenge underlying Telecel’s mission stems from the region’s communications history. Africa’s current wireline networks are sparse and deteriorating. The networks were constructed decades ago by European colonists who structured the networks to route calls to Europe for switching and then back to Africa, said Dudley. “Europeans want to keep it that way because it means money for them.” Telecel’s network “is cheaper, more efficient and the service is better,” he added.
By way of AfriLink, a Pan-African satellite network, Telecel’s African cellular customers can conduct direct voice and data communications with one another and with the rest of the world.
An intelligent satellite earth station is located in every town served by Telecel’s cellular networks. When a Telecel cellular user places a call to another user in a neighboring country, the call is switched to the satellite network at the earth station, transmitted, then handed back to the destination cellular network.
Telecel’s satellite transmissions typically operate using Demand Assigned Multiple Access technology, which enables frequencies to be used on a momentary, call-by-call basis, said Dudley. Instead of leasing a fixed circuit to open communications between two points, DAMA provides a pool of availability for communications between any points within the satellite’s coverage area. The system encompasses Western Europe and Africa.
“It’s revolutionary because of the networking arrangement where one point can talk to another without a prearranged connectio…Connections can exist in any manner,” commented Dudley. Fixed circuits are used for high-volume calling routes, whereby a higher compression rate makes that option more viable.
Telecel recently introduced U.S. Exchange Service, which for the first time allows African customers to receive international calls. In most countries throughout the world, the Post, Telephone and Telegraph authorities have not yet coded their telephone networks to terminate calls in remote foreign locations, including much of Africa, said Dudley.
U.S. Exchange Service equips Telecel’s African cellular users with a U.S. phone number. Calls placed to those U.S. numbers-originating from anywhere in the world-are directed first to Telecel’s switch in Connecticut. Sprint Corp.’s long-distance service carries the call to the international gateway in the United Kingdom where calls are then transmitted via satellite to the AfriLink network.
Dudley said most of the current AfriLink calling activity occurs within Africa. Telecel is in discussions with other cellular operators in Africa to connect them to AfriLink.
Depending on the area and the subscriber, Telecel’s wireless telephony systems serve both as an alternative to basic phone service and as a mobility tool. Among AfriLink’s customers are individual residential and business users and private multiple-user businesses that need high-speed communications, including banks, hotels and mining companies in remote locations. To connect these users to AfriLink, Telecel only needs to install a small satellite earth station on site.
The company operates Advanced Mobile Phone Service networks in about 12 cities throughout Zaire, Madagascar, Guinea, Burundi and the Central African Republic. A Code Division Multiple Access system is under construction in Zambia and a Global System for Mobile communications network is being built in Cote d’Ivoire, said Dudley.
Telecel proposed using CDMA-based service to Zambian authorities because the technology offers increased capacity at a lower cost, he said. The company intends to target a larger market with CDMA service and take “the [wireless local loop] component to new level.” Dudley said the International Telecommunications Union implied African countries should use GSM technology as they build out or upgrade wireless systems. However, “the reality of the last 10 years…is that there has been little standardization.”
Telecel is actively talking with between six and eight other African countries about implementing cellular service and expanding the AfriLink network, said Dudley
The company said it is active in the Commonwealth of Independent States, specifically Ukraine, and other developing regions.
