A new satellite Earth station at the Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone (ZEE) in Angola has been inaugurated by Eutelsat Group.

Eutelsat has a lasting reputation in Angola as a provider of geostationary satellite communications services, and seeks to expand its investment in the country. The company said the new ground station will bring its OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) network to Angola and across the wider Central African region.

“Angola’s strategic location, fiber connectivity, and stable regulatory framework make it an ideal environment for deploying ground infrastructure,” Guido Van Sprundel, sales director of Southern Africa at Eutelsat OneWeb told DCD. “We believe this new ground station will help drive further economic growth and digital development in the country.”

Investment in the Luanda-Bengo ground station amounted to $15 million in capital expenditure, with ongoing operating costs expected to reach $5m over the next decade, delivered as part of a multi-year agreement with pan-African construction company Paratus Group. The gateway will help digitize public services like schools, hospitals, and government buildings.

The inauguration was attended by H.E. Mário Augusto da Silva Oliveira, Angola's Minister of Telecommunications, who issued a provisional license for the facility in 2023, and H.E. Mr. Roz Griffiths, Deputy Ambassador of the United Kingdom.

Paratus Angola, previously known as ITA, currently operates a data center and teleport campus in the Angolan capital. The telco signed a ground station deal with OneWeb back in 2022.

Angola is prioritizing the modernization of its communications infrastructure, including telecoms, hoping to market itself as a digital hub in Africa. Internet access is unevenly distributed in the nation, with a national penetration rate for connectivity of 44.8 percent of the population in 2025, according to DataReportal, representing 17.1 million Internet users.

The milestone was celebrated by Eutelsat as a step toward bridging the digital divide and supporting inclusive economic growth. The station is the latest of several of Eutelsat’s on the continent, with other facilities based in Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal, and Ghana.

“Eutelsat OneWeb is building on our strong legacy of delivering GEO connectivity in Africa to now launching our LEO services that deliver high-speed, low-latency coverage across the continent,” Van Sprundel told DCD. “By combining GEO and (local) LEO capabilities, we offer flexible, resilient solutions that support digital transformation and drive inclusive growth in even the most remote regions which Africa houses more than any other continent, combined with the fastest growing population on this planet.”

Eutelsat is set to carve out its ground station infrastructure into a separate company after signing a $831m sale-leaseback deal with EQT late last year.

"Bridging the digital divide unlocks significant economic potential by enabling access to education, healthcare, retail, financial services, banks, offshore, maritime markets—driving growth and innovation,” Van Sprundel told DCD. “A connected Africa can accelerate GDP growth, empower entrepreneurship, startups and position the continent as a competitive force in the global digital economy. In which reliable, high speed data is not just a tool, it has become moreover a necessity to thrive.