First satellite-backed 5G in Middle East
Paris-based multi-orbit satellite operator SES and du from Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC) have created the Middle East’s first satellite-run 5G backhaul using SES’s Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites, says a joint announcement. The partners exemplified how SES’s current the low latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system could extend 5G coverage to remote locations and support du’s enterprise customers, many of whom are offshore energy sites needing reliable connections, high throughput and instant response times.
The live proof of concept involved numerous tests conducted over SES’s O3b satellite, including voice and data exercises to measure quality of service performance and stress test load capacity. The low latency and high throughput 5G backhaul link showed O3b can create 5G satellite-enabled networks with a quality of experience that matches terrestrial backhauling systems. While du has used satellites for its own cellular backhaul and data comms services to enterprise customers, it wanted to perform even better for its enterprise, cloud and data growth applications, according to Saleem AlBlooshi, du’s chief technology officer, du. “The O3b mPower promises to provide the scale and quality of experience with the flexibility of satellite,” said AlBlooshi.
SES has already started to deploy the technology and promised its clients ‘carrier-grade performance’ for their business-critical, cloud-based applications over the public internet or via a dedicated, private connection. John-Paul Hemingway, chief strategy and product officer of SES, said the reassuringly high performance of middle earth orbit constellations mean that 5G can be backhauled over satellites. That means du can guarantee bandwidth with greater flexibility. “The O3b mPower [will translate into] new revenue streams by expanding high-quality 4G/5G to remote areas and by cost effectively connecting its enterprise customers,” said Hemingway.