Communications services provider SES Networks says there is significant demand for connectivity from mining and oil and gas operations, and, as a result, the company has tried to grow its foothold within these markets.

SES Networks Africa sales VP Carole Kamaitha explains that the demand for connectivity can be attributed to a combination of several factors, which preclude microwave links, namely a lack of infrastructure at the start of greenfield mining projects, the remoteness of most mining operations and the need to relay real-time data to corporate offices, which are generally thousands of kilometres away from a mining operation.

Kamaitha elaborates: “Mines are looking to increase operational efficiencies, especially once they start ramping up to full production capacity.” She notes that one of the core benefits of fast and reliable connectivity is that business-critical information – “information that can have significant impacts on share prices and profitability” – can be relayed between multiple points of contact in multiple locations.

She adds that mines look into satellite solutions for two reasons – to enable them to digitise their mine and, more importantly, to attain a “low-latency solution” that ensures fast communication.

Kamaitha notes that mines, as part of their efforts to modernise and improve productivity, have acquired a level of digitalisation, deploying technologies “to enable their survival in a market that has been quite compressed”. Most of these technologies make use of devices integral to the Internet of Things concept and, thus, connectivity is essential.

Illustrating how connectivity can improve productivity, Kamaitha cites a case study compiled by an SES mining client trying to determine the quantifiable impact of the SES solutions on its mining operations in Papua New Guinea. The study showed that productivity increased by “ten minutes per employee per day”, because the link enabled effective communication between multiple parties in multiple locations. Further, it noted that overall staff morale had increased as well, because employees were able to use the satellite link to connect to social media and, therefore, communicate with their families.

Kamaitha explains that the Papua New Guinea mine had transitioned from SES’s Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite solution to the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) solution, because its needs had changed. She notes that, because of its characteristics, the GEO solution lends itself to smaller operations, while the MEO solutions tend to be employed by larger entities with large-scale operations. MEO solutions also have latency as low as that of fibre solutions.

Kamaitha stresses that SES will assist clients in choosing the solution that “enables a client to do what it needs to do”

Connectivity One such client is Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines. Its Kamoa-Kakula copper project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will benefit from high-performance managed connectivity services from SES.

The managed services are powered by its O3b MEO satellite fleet. “It will enable operators on site to do videoconferencing with headquarters, use cloud-based applications to access and upload critical data and improve overall productivity and safety.”

SES Networks has a long history of providing highly reliable connectivity solutions for energy and mining operations throughout Africa, says Kamaitha. She adds that the company’s inherent understanding of the region and the connectivity needs of remote mining operations enable the crew working at the Kamoa-Kakula site to communicate effectively and make use of the most modern applications available to maximise productivity.

Another SES Networks customer is German end-to-end communications service provider CETel. It signed a five-year contract with SES to connect new exploration and production sites in Africa using SES’s MEO satellite constellation.

“CETel will leverage the O3b fleet’s low latency and high throughput capabilities for Big Data applications required by the exploration and production industry. “With round-trip latencies below 150 milliseconds, MEO-enabled networks are on a par with standard fibre connections, and are more reliable and faster to deploy than other infrastructure.”

he adds that SES Networks is willing to partner with local telecommunications service providers, where appropriate.