On Friday evening, December 21, 2007 at about 21H51 GMT, Arianespace successfully boosted the first ever Pan African communications satellite-RASCOM-QAF1. Built by Thales Alenia Space under a turnkey contract from Rascom-QAF, the Rascom-AQF1 satellite has a design life of 15 years.
It will provide telecommunications services especially to rural areas in Africa as will as inter-urban and international phone links, direct TV broadcast and Internet services. It will also provide Band Lease services. Based on a Spacebus 4000B3 platform, this powerful spacecraft carries 21 ku-band transponders and eight C-band transponders.
The satellite is positioned at 2.85 degrees East. The Director General of Arianespace after the successful launch of the satellite said, "we are particularly very proud of launching the first Pan-African Satellite, Rascom QAF1 which the operator, Rascom-QAF will use to offer a broad array of dedicated communications services to all of Africa, on behalf of the inter-governmental organization RASCOM which groups 45 African countries and one Non-Signatory Shareholder.
By this successful launch, Arianespace has established a long-standing relationship of mutual confidence with this mission's customers". RASCOM is very pleased to mention that all African financial institutions which have participated in financing the RASCOM project were represented at the launch event to see the launch of the first ever Pan-African satellite system including the Libyan African Investment Portfolio, (LAIP), the African Development Bank (ADB) the Bank of West African Development (BOAD) and the Bank of Central African Development (BDEAC).
RASCOM has been greatly honoured by their presence at the launch by an Ariane 5 launcher from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Expressing his deep feelings of joy immediately after the launch event, Dr. Jones A. Killimbe, Director General/CEO of RASCOM said "this is an African dream come true which has been made possible through being able to believe in ourselves that together we can always make it" RASCOM, is an intergovernmental commercial satellite organization and the expression of the strong willingness of the African Governments and telecommunication operators to pool their efforts with a view to providing he African continent with telecommunications infrastructure based on satellite communications technology which is not only leading to a global response for all telecommunications requirements identified in Africa, but more specifically it is going to provide telecommunications services at very low cost, thus making universal service a reality in Africa.
RASCOM has a membership of 45 African countries as of now and one Non-Signatory Shareholder and other remaining African countries shall join soon.
To achieve its mission, RASCOM has established strategic partnership in Rascom Star-QAF its commercial operating Company, which has under an Execution Agreement, the responsibility to implement the RASCOM telecommunications satellite system dedicated to the African continent which has been launched on 21 December 2007.
