Communications and Digital Technologies Minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has expressed confidence in the country’s plans to launch its own communications satellite into orbit.
A commission established by President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously recommended that government build and launch a geostationary telecommunications satellite, which would offer its services to the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Speaking during an interview with SABC News, Ntshavheni said that they are targeting the end of the financial year to finalise the revised proposal of the country’s own satellite.
“We’ve started to engage with industries and those who use satellite technology to say how do we pull resources together so that we can have this. We already have, as a country, capacity through the space-tech to manage satellite. There are satellites that at a particular level or orbit level, their management is done from South Africa, so we’ve got that capacity so we can go all the way and own a satellite,” says Ntshavheni.
Plans under way to launch SA’s own communication satellite – Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni
