Mobile satellite connectivity available in SA

28 February 2026 Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT

Space42, a UAE based AI powered SpaceTech company listed as SPACE42 on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, has commercially launched its next generation mobile satellite service, Thuraya 4 NGS, available in South Africa as of February 2026. This marks the company’s first operational footprint in the country and introduces secure, high uptime L-band connectivity designed for industries operating in demanding environments.

Built on the Airbus Eurostar Neo platform, Thuraya 4 delivers advanced software defined capabilities that Space42 describes as dynamic, secure, and resistant to jamming. The system is engineered to maintain reliable communication in isolated or adverse conditions, making it particularly relevant to South Africa’s energy, mining, maritime, agriculture, and tourism sectors. These industries often require resilient, non-terrestrial connectivity to support safety, operational continuity, and real time data exchange.

A key advantage of the rollout is seamless interoperability with terrestrial networks, enabling organisations to integrate satellite and ground infrastructure without disruption. For South Africa, this enhances communications resilience across remote sites and coastal operations.

Thuraya-4 is a geostationary mobile satellite built on the all-electric Airbus Eurostar Neo platform, designed for efficiency and long operational life. It uses a software-defined payload with onboard signal processing, allowing reconfiguration of coverage, power allocation and modulation schemes via software updates rather than hardware changes. This enables the satellite to adapt to different user demands over its mission lifetime.

A key feature is its 12-metre L-band reflector antenna, one of the largest deployed for mobile satellite services, combined with onboard processing that supports up to 3200 dynamic channels and flexible, spot-beam steering. L-band frequencies are resilient in rain, dust, and foliage – especially useful across South Africa’s varied terrain and coastal environments. The system is able to deliver L-band data throughput above 1 Mbps.

For more information visit www.thuraya.com

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