Paratus goes live with Starlink in Zambia

05 October 2023:  Following the announcement (in a press release dated 22 September 2023) that Paratus Group, the pan-African telco, data center and network services provider, has signed a reseller agreement with Starlink, Paratus Zambia announces that Starlink has launched its business services in Zambia today. 

Country Manager of Paratus Zambia, Marius van Vuuren says “It is a very exciting opportunity for us to be involved in this initiative. We recognise and applaud the hard work done by our government, regulator and other authorities, in conjunction with Starlink, in ensuring this leading-edge technology is available to the Zambian market. As Paratus we pride ourselves on being technology and telecommunication leaders and being directly involved with Starlink aligns with this. We are well prepared to take the Starlink service to our customers, both existing and new having ready access to the equipment with skilled and trained satellite engineers, along with the required support structures. We firmly believe our value-add is an essential ingredient in making Starlink a huge success in Zambia.  

The Paratus offering has a few significant differentiators that will be particularly appealing to business customers:

1. Efficiency in Enterprise Orders: Paratus Zambia enables businesses to streamline their operations. When ordering enterprise services online, businesses face the cumbersome task of placing individual orders for each terminal. This means 10 terminals, require 10 separate orders; however, Paratus overcomes this and simplifies this process for businesses by allowing multiple links to be included in a single order, saving valuable time and effort.
2. Multiple Payment Options: Ordering online via the web requires the business to use a credit/debit card as part of the payment requirements. Paratus Zambia removes this requirement through their normal business process of providing monthly invoicing on agreed payment terms.
3. Support and Installation: When ordering online, customers are not provided with dedicated support or installation services. Paratus includes these services as part of the one-stop-shop approach.

Marius further highlights that “We have our own stock on-site here in Lusaka and this means we will be able to deliver and provide an installation service and technical support expeditiously. Being a business-focused service, we are aware that customers probably also have ‘behind the router’ services such as connecting their office LAN, Wireless Access Points, and other similar devices. Because of our extensive technical experience, we are also able to incorporate these into the Starlink service ensuring a fully functional end-to-end service. We also offer SD-Wan services in conjunction with our Starlink offering.”

Starlink provides high-speed, broadband internet using a simple, scalable hardware platform that can be easily distributed across locations around the world. Unbounded by local infrastructure and designed to support multiple paths back to the internet, Starlink provides reliable service to ensure businesses can always keep operating.

Starlink currently provides services to tens of thousands of business locations and serves customers in a multitude of countries, including primary business connectivity, backup, interim setup, and emergency services.

Across its network, Starlink maintains greater than 99% up-time across all customers – and higher for unobstructed installations. Up-time is measured without mitigating factors, such as weather and wire-cut outages.

Paratus will not only provide business customers with both fixed and mobility services with immediate effect but also 24/7 technical support.  Van Vuuren adds: “With our Starlink offering, Paratus will offer industry sectors – such as energy, mining, hospitality, education, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing and more – the reliable and constant connectivity they need to flourish, no matter how remote they are.”