UPNG launches VSAT broadband

By FRANK ASAELI
The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) in collaboration with Telikom PNG Ltd has launched the University’s VSAT broadband trial project for education via satellite and internet.
VSAT or Very Small Aperture Terminals are used in satellite communication systems to link computers to the satellite, and UPNG will trial the Telikom’s VSAT system that was officially launched last Friday at the UPNG’s main campus.
The trial will be for six months and would be extended to fully experiment the VSAT system when UPNG links up its other campuses – the Motupore Island research station and the 22 university centres and open campuses around the country.
Telikom is currently charging VSAT services at costs between K50,000 and K60,000 and would soon come up with a fixed price for educational institutions.
UPNG Vice-Chancellor Prof Ross Hynes said it was a trial which was actually to explore the use of a 1.2m satellite dish to see how it operated in terms of the quality and performance.
He said already it was substantial as it had 1 megabyte per second to download and 800 kilobytes per second to upload compared to 3 kilobytes for download per second on the landline.
“We will revolutionise communication and information transfers throughout the whole university and for the wider community, we are on the edge of something very exciting,” Prof Hynes said.
He said another advantage was to be able to plug in to massive international databases which are digitised.
A computer network based on the VSAT system can be established and this network could be utilised to transfer audio-visual information.
The VSAT could also be exploited for both interactive teaching and video conferencing, and since it can be utilised without requiring any special training, it is a very effective and uncomplicated system.
Telikom acting CEO Peter Loko said Telikom was not only a mobile phone service provider but also provided VSAT, internet, fixed lines and other services, which was a big task to manage.
He said with the VSAT, UPNG would be able to have a direct link to the internet gateway.
The reason for doing this was because of the problems of cable vandalism in recent months.