Kenya's Wananchi Group is to lease capacity on the Yamal 402 satellite following a new agreement between the media company's subsidiary iSAT Africa and Russia's Gazprom Space Systems (GSS).
Under the terms of the agreement, Dubai-based iSAT Africa will use the satellite's southern beam for services in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other Central African countries.
"Yamal-402 satellite perfectly meets our requirements due to its high power and the wide Ku-band coverage zone, allowing us to use it for the small regional networks as well as for pan-African VSAT networks in Sub Sahara region," said Santosh Sakpal, technical manager at iSAT Africa.
"We are planning to further develop our services on this satellite and are very interested in the extension of our partnership."
Dmitriy Sevastiyanov, director general, GSS , added: "We are glad to welcome a new African partner on board our satellite. Gazprom Space Systems counts on a fruitful and long-term cooperation with such a well-known company as iSAT Africa."
The move follows a recent tie-up between the satellite operator Eutelsat and iSat Africa for the delivery of a digital terrestrial television (DTT) service in East Africa.