Angola Telecom announced the launch of a new service called Conecta Angola, which aimed to provide free internet connectivity supported by the Angosat-2 satellite to remote areas of the country where none of the country’s mobile operators had been active at the ANGOTIC 2023 conference.

The project would target state institutions such as schools, hospitals and municipal administrations that have limited access to internet connectivity to increase digital inclusion. According to the Sales Director of Angola Telecom, Eusébio Santos, the first phase of the project involves taking the service to unreached, internet-excluded regions, and in the second phase, Angola Telecom will integrate small and medium-sized companies that operate in such areas to share infrastructure.

Furthermore, the Conecta Angola project was developed from a partnership between Infrasat, a satellite communications provider and owner of a low-cost rural communications network, and the country’s National Space Programme Management Office (GGPEN).

The pilot project is already ongoing in Bela Vista, Cunhinga municipality in Bié Province, where students and other users at the local Academic Centre of Excellence can use new internet facilities free of charge. The project will be rolled out to other schools and public sector facilities, such as hospitals and municipal administration offices in remote locations where it is commercially unviable for other operators to deploy broadband networks in the near future.

However, the cost of rollout or the timescale of the project has not been disclosed.