Newtec, a specialist in designing, developing and manufacturing equipment and technologies for satellite communications, today announced that state-owned broadcasting signal distributor SENTECH has selected the Newtec Dialog® multiservice platform including the MDM2500 IP Satellite Modem for 800 of its sites across South Africa.

The partnership was enabled through African Union Communications (AUCom) – a long-term, certified Newtec business partner, which is the primary contractor for this SENTECH project.

The Newtec Dialog multiservice platform will provide SENTECH with capabilities for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) signal monitoring, IP multicasting, radio backhaul, Point of Sale (PoS) support and government disaster recovery connectivity. The migration from the current platform to Newtec Dialog will begin in November and will use standard Ku-band capacity.

“As the broadcast industry evolves, it is important for us to be able to meet not only our present needs, but our future ones as well,” said Dumisa Ngwenya, CTO at SENTECH. “One of the main factors was Newtec Dialog’s capacity for scalable growth, allowing us to target an increasing number of services within the same platform as our future requirements change and grow.”

As a multiservice platform, Newtec Dialog enables tailored services and guarantees optimal modulation, bandwidth allocation, service availability, reliable automation of link set-ups and flexible workflow support, whether it is being used to provide broadcast, consumer broadband, cellular backhaul or mobility services. It also features Newtec’s award-winning return link technology Mx-DMA®, which delivers the efficiency of SCPC with the dynamic bandwidth allocation of MF-TDMA.

“Together with our partner AUCom, we have been able to provide SENTECH with a solution that matches its needs both now and in the future,” said Pieter-Paul Mooijman, Regional Sales Director Africa at Newtec. “SENTECH has been a Newtec customer for many years now and we are delighted that our strong track record of reliability, customer support and cost-effectiveness has enabled us to extend this relationship further.”

AUCom and Newtec will be present at AfricaCom 2016 in CapeTown. For further information and to book a meeting visit: www.newtec.eu/event/africacom-2016.

Your Contacts

Newtec
Kerstin Roost
Public Relations Director
Tel: +49 30 430 95 562
Kerstin.Roost@newtec.eu

AUCom
Elize Labuschagne
PR & Marketing
Tel: +27 12 001 8670
Elize.Labuschagne@aucom.co.za

SENTECH
Olebogeng Ndou
PR Manager
+27 627 4172
ndouo@sentech.co.za

About Newtec 

Newtec, www.newtec.eu, is specialized in designing, developing and manufacturing equipment and technologies for satellite communications. As a pioneer in the industry, Newtec is dedicated to creating new possibilities for the broadcast, consumer and enterprise VSAT, government and defense, cellular backhaul and trunking and mobility, offshore and maritime markets. Our products and technologies can be applied in a wide range of single and multiservice applications from DTH broadcasting, video contribution and distribution and disaster recovery and backbones for backhauling, to small and medium enterprises, SCADA networks, manned and unmanned aircrafts, trains, border control, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) and maritime.

For over 30 years, our dedicated team of specialists has set industry standards with the most efficient, scalable and economical technology solutions. New challenges and customer needs offer opportunities to explore new boundaries. This empowers us to work even harder, helping customers to perform their best so that, together, we can make the world a safer, more informed and connected place. As a result, more than 3 billion people watch TV every day thanks to Newtec technology.

Newtec is a European company founded in 1985. Through commercial offices in Sint-Niklaas (Belgium), Dubai (UAE), Singapore, Beijing (China), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Stamford, CT (USA) as well as an extensive network of over 100 certified partners, Newtec can meet customer’s needs worldwide.

About SENTECH

SENTECH, a South African state-owned company (SOC), is the premier provider of electronic communications network services to the country’s broadcasting and communications industry. SENTECH provides broadcast transmission services to SABC, eTV, MNet, community broadcasters, and over 150 radio stations countrywide on a daily basis. Its infrastructure and data communications platforms also provide services to South Africa’s telecoms sector and mobile providers.

SENTECH is mandated by the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) to drive the migration of the country’s broadcasting services from analogue to digital. It has implemented world-class digital terrestrial television (DTT) and a universal access direct-to-home (DTH) satellite platform service to ensure access to digital television for the country’s people. SENTECH’s DVB-T2 network will replace the current analogue infrastructure when analogue switch-off is announced by government. To date, the DTT network successfully covers 100% of country’s population through 84% reach via the DVB-T2 terrestrial network, and the remaining 16% via the satellite DTH network. SENTECH is now focused on developing and rolling out open-access multiscreen platforms that will enrich SA’s digital content distribution industry.

About AUCom

African Union Communications (Pty) Ltd (AUCom, www.aucom.co.za) was founded in 2001 to focus on providing professional products and services to the broadcast and telecommunication market in Africa. More than 25 years of experience was gained being the Harmonic distributor in South Africa in the multimedia arena by providing systems such as satellite distribution networks, Direct to Home Satellite (DTH) platforms and contribution links. During the past few years, complete multi-channel digital free-to-air and pay TV head-end systems were provided to customers such as SENTECH, MultiChoice, MultiChoice Africa, NBC, RTD, TV Cabo and smaller operators in Africa. The projects included design, integration and support and maintenance of these systems. The support services for these existing customers will be continued out of African Union Communications with full back-up support from Harmonic Inc, with customer support offices based in London, UK, Paris, France, Israel and USA.

AUCom is Newtec’s certified business partner and became recently Newtec’s official authorized repair center in the region.