Living in Barangay Santa Ines in Tanay, Rizal Province, Mylene Ramos is no stranger to floods. Surrounded by lush, mountainous, agricultural land at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountain, the town is also home to two large rivers. When a river floods, the locals are cut off from the nearby town, making it difficult to secure essential food and supplies — and halting trade for the locals who produce ginger and honey, as well as raise animals.
“The river flood here lasts for about three days,” says Mylene, who operates the local general store in Sitio Nayon with her family. “We cannot work, because the main livelihood here is trading.”
In this area, there is no mobile phone signal or internet access, making them reliant on the local town for these services. So, when a disruptive natural event occurs, they lose all access to the wider world.
Satellite Technology is a game changer for rural areas
This all changed recently when local Internet Service Provider, Stellarsat, connected the Ramos family store to affordable and high-speed internet via satellite. This connection vastly improved their everyday communication and provided a way for the Ramos family and their small community to prepare for natural events.
Using satellite technology, Kacific has been able to deliver an alternative to fiber connection that is dependable, high-speed, and affordable for rural and remote areas. The first Ka-band High-throughput Satellite, Kacific1, was launched in 2019 as a geostationary satellite. Kacific has concentrated spot beams that cover all the remote areas — from Batanes to Palawan and even all the way to Sulu. These spot beams are high power, resulting in availabilities between 99.5% and 99.9%. Additionally, Kacific can mitigate the effects of rain fade through diverse uplink availability, having two local teleports located in Subic Bay and Clark as its backup sites to ensure that connectivity remains available even in inclement weather.
Ka-band technology as a viable solution
Kacific’s Ka-band technology provides higher output in small 1.2-m antennas or terminal kits, making it simple and fast to install. This also means higher download and upload speeds that can provide better internet performance. Ka-band also allows lower prices per megabit. This new approach has drastically reduced the cost of both the internet and voice calls. Kacific achieves speeds of 85Mbps (70Mbps in download speeds; 15Mbps in upload speeds), with bandwidths offered at inexpensive rates. This speed is more than enough for a smooth internet experience. For bigger businesses and communities, Kacific can even provide 100Mbps in download and 20Mbps in upload speeds for up to 60 users. Stellarsat offers unlimited plans starting at ₱5,940 in the Philippines. Terminals are offered for a one-time terminal fee of ₱34,000 or ₱52,000 depending on the model. A one-time installation fee of ₱10,000 is charged by distributors to install the terminal in a specific area.
The Philippines is highly exposed to flooding
Mylene’s husband Raynold, a merchant who delivers ginger to the city-based co-operative, agrees that satellite broadband access is hugely beneficial. He can contact the co-operative without needing to leave his area in search of a communication network. This helps him and the growers in managing logistics and customer demand, especially in preparation for extreme weather and flooding.
The story of the Ramos family is common. The Philippines is particularly prone to flooding, with the region experiencing an average of 20 cyclones a year and heavy rainfall. An estimated 176,000 Filipinos are affected by flooding annually, with the damage reaching over US$600 million. With climate change leading to more unstable weather events, these figures are set to climb.
Businesses need backup internet connection
Natural disasters hit businesses hard as well. According to a report by Swiss Re, global economic losses from natural catastrophes reached $270 billion in 2021. Companies and governments lose money every year due to inevitable short telecom network disruptions, bringing business to a standstill.
This is where Kacific Enterprise Internet Backup can help, by providing a secondary high-speed internet connection via a small satellite dish. This very affordable on-demand, hot-backup package allows organizations, factories, and enterprise branches to recover quickly and automatically. They will be able to continue with normal activities, even if their primary internet access is compromised.
Kacific Enterprise Backup includes a one-off satellite dish installation at each site, combined with a simple per-month, per-site package, far offsetting the cost of regular, short, or mid-term internet disruptions. It can be scaled to suit business needs from SMEs up to large-scale enterprise sites.
With Stellarsat powered by Kacific, businesses and residents all over the Philippines now have the option to use Ka-band satellite internet to ensure that connectivity remains following a natural disaster.
For fast, affordable satellite internet services in your area, call Stellarsat Solutions, Inc. at 0917 626 6694 or email at [email protected].
For more information on Kacific’s satellite technology, visit www.kacific.com or contact [email protected].
Apply to be a Kacific Authorized Distributor today, visit https://kacific.com/distributor-network to know more.
*Quotes translated from Filipino to English.