In an exclusive interview with Communications Africa SatADSL, Michel Dothey, co-founder and CCO of SatADSL, talks about the company’s new Cloud-based Service Delivery Platform and the advantages this brings to operators in Africa and the challenges along the way
At the CABSAT show you presented SatADSL’s solution for operators. What kind of interest and feedback did you receive at the event?
Our disruptive Cloud-based Service Delivery Platform (C-SDP) solution was launched in direct response to market demand and the interest in it has been extremely positive. For example, one listener told us that their organisation had been waiting for a solution like this for many years. Teleport operators were especially interested to hear about the full potential of the solution, as our CSDP enables them to offer any kind of service (contended, voucher-based, volume-based, etc.) with any kind of technology (iDirect, Newtec, Hughes, etc.).
Can you tell us of a case study where your newest solutions for operators have proved to be successful?
A case study that stands out is an iDirect hub operator, which wanted to offer voucher-based services in Africa to lower the risk of non-payment. Thanks to the C-SDP, the operator is now able to offer a full range of uncapped monthly vouchers, as well as volume-based vouchers. Another example is an operator with an unused transponder. This customer uses our platform to sell capacity at very competitive price. This is done through our network of 75 partners and resellers in 35 sub-Saharan countries. We also have a teleport operator which uses our platform to unify the management, automatic billing and accounting of its entire fleet of hubs, equipped with different technologies.
How do you ensure your solutions are both reliable and cost-effective?
Based on our physical infrastructure, the C-SDP offers several substantial and unique advantages to operators. In addition to there being no up-front investment or Capital Expenditure (CapEx), Operational Expenditure (OpEx) is also reduced. With fast time to market, the solution can be implemented quickly and no commitment is required from the operator.
Operators can optimise their coverage as the platform allows connections to multisatellites, multi-Bands (C, Ku & Ka) and multitechnologies (Newtec, iDirect, Hughes, etc.). The platform comes with an in-built Customer Management Tool and white label customer self-care, as well as a very large choice of pre-defined, fully customisable services. It includes an ultra-flexible billing system (time, volume, unlimited, etc.), an integrated online payment solution (mobile money) and an Application Management Policy (bandwidth and segregation).
The rest of the article be can read in Issue 1 of Communications Africa:www.communicationsafrica.com/current-issue
