Q-KON’s Dawie de Wet on big changes sweeping the satellite industry

Loading player...
There has never been a more exciting time to be in the satellite communications industry, says Dawie de Wet, CEO of Pretoria-based Q-KON.
In this episode of TC|Daily, De Wet, who is one of South Africa’s leading experts in satellite communications technology, tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about the huge changes happening in the satellite space and what they mean for consumers and for industry.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest episodes of TC|Daily
In the interview, De Wet talks about:
* The origins of Q-KON;
* Why satellite is going through something of a renaissance, despite the proliferation of terrestrial and subsea fibre infrastructure;
* GEO (geostationary orbit) vs MEO (medium-earth orbit) vs LEO (low-earth orbit) satellites – what are they, and what are the latest developments in each?;
* How satellite technology has advanced in leaps and bounds in recent years;
* Why it might not be the mobile operators that drive a consumer revolution in satellite adoption, but why a revolution is coming anyway;
* Starlink, OneWeb, Lightspeed, O3b mPower, AST SpaceMobile and other projects – and is there overinvestment taking place?;
* How Africa’s needs are different to the rest of the world’s; and
* Q-KON’s role in all of this.
This is a fascinating discussion about an often overlooked area of the technology industry – don’t miss it.
10 Oct 2022 4AM English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

Herotel CEO Van Zyl Botha on beating Starlink to South Africa

Amazon’s Leo satellite constellation is coming to South Africa in 2027 through Herotel. TechCentral deputy editor Fanie van Rooyen speaks to Herotel CEO Van Zyl Botha about Evry, the brand that will sell Amazon Leo to South African homes, and about how a company with no local licence walked into…
14 Aug 5AM 22 min

Money just became native to the internet - Steven Boykey Sidley

Steven Boykey Sidley has been a chief technology officer at a Fortune 500 company, a private equity investor, a videogame designer, a jazz musician and, for the past four years, a professor of practice at the University of Johannesburg. He is a partner at Bridge Capital, heading its futures advisory,…
12 Aug 7AM 45 min

TCS+ | Specops' Darren James on continuous trust in an AI world

Specops Software’s Darren James explains why identity checks alone no longer stop determined attackers. Traditional approaches to access security no longer hold up in hybrid, cloud-first environments – and AI is widening the gap. In this episode, host Kevin Smith speaks to Darren James, senior product manager at Specops Software,…
7 Aug 4AM 45 min

TCS+ | Why South African workers must become supervisors of digital labour

ADG’s Cliff de Wit on why the next management challenge is overseeing teams of autonomous software agents. Not long ago, organisations were experimenting with generative AI to draft e-mails, summarise documents and answer questions. Today agentic AI is changing what the technology is for. In a conversation on TechCentral’s TCS+…
31 Jul 4AM 43 min

Icasa's rules skip the real bottleneck: ACT

Communications regulator Icasa’s draft rapid deployment regulations – a critical intervention for the sector – risk failing unless the regulator brings municipalities into the process, according to Nomvuyiso Batyi, CEO of the Association of Comms & Technology (ACT). Speaking on the TechCentral Show with TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod, Batyi said…
30 Jul 4AM 29 min