Conceptualising a twelve-month roadmap for domestic gateway teleports, Q/V band licensing and a Harare Point of Presence.
By Willard Shoko
The Satellite Evolution: From Mazowe to LEO Constellations
Zimbabwe’s satellite telecommunications journey began following an official state visit to Japan, which led directly to the establishment of the country’s primary satellite hub at Mazowe in 1985. The Mazowe Earth Station served as the nation’s sole gateway to international telecommunications networks via Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) links.
As demands for enterprise and consumer bandwidth grew, Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) technology became the next operational milestone. Early commercial implementations relied on a single VSAT terminal to handle the entire international bandwidth load for Data Control Systems, the entity that eventually evolved into Liquid Intelligent Technologies, delivering a 1 Mbps aggregate trunk connection.
