Denis Opudo
The $30 million deal that was signed by Sky and Space Global made its shares to increase by 30%. The nano-satellite phone service business (ASX: SAS) has sealed a deal that will last for five years with an African mobile payments outfit called BeepTool Communications & Integrated Services. The two companies carried out piloting in October 2017 to test the nano-satellite ability to work out financial transactions.
The deal will see BeepTool buying all the available communications bandwidth required to fill up it commercial demand. The other company will use the BeepTool messaging app in its communications software. The working of the deal lies in the success of the second field trial on the original 3 Diamonds network.
BeepTool will pay fixed payments for end-user devices in advance, as well as a per usage rate for the service certain minimum usage commitment, and a security deposit is covering advance services. SAS becomes the first company to successfully use narrowband connectivity offered by nano-satellites to make a phone call. Narrowband means the communications link uses a smaller frequency range, or bandwidth, and can only provide low data rates, such as 56 kbps.
Sky and Space developed Pearls satellites in September. The Pearls, to be built in Denmark and launched later in 2018, are powered by three-meter sun-tracking solar panels which allow 24/7 operation. Once operational, customers can tap into the service through a dedicated smartphone satellite device or an adapter. That service is planned to go live in 2020.
