General News of Friday, 11 July 2003

Source: GNA

Vip SAT launched

Accra July 11 GNA - IP Planet Network Limited (IPNL) and Ecoband Dot Net (EDN), Internet connectivity and solution providers on Friday jointly launched "Vip SAT", a new Internet product onto the Ghanaian market.

The Vip SAT, which is an Internet backbone access has state-of-the-art equipment and is cost effective. The product has the ability to offer stand-alone Internet terminals to corporate organizations, government institutions and cybercafes all over the country.

Making a presentation, Mr. Patrick Botbol, Sales Manager of IPNL said the new product has a high-end VSAT-hub system, which can provide services to both the traditional telecom and Internet operators. He said the Vip SAT is very flexible in the sense that it has the ability to support a wide range of applications.

He said the product could be sustained for a long time since its C-Band platform is very durable against rain and other interferences. Mr. Botbol appealed to the government to separate the licenses fees for big corporate entities and that of small Internet Service Providers (ISP).

He said the situation where small ISPs are made to pay the same license fees like the big institutions could affect the rapid expansion of the telecommunication sector of the country. "Internet is not just about access, ISPs need to provide a wide range of complementary services and to control costs across the board"