04 March 2025

Simon Gatty Saunt, Vice President Sales,
Global Service Providers, SES

Over recent months, SES has been partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) programme, supported by the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), to enable humanitarian efforts in Burkina Faso.

The co-funded SENO pilot project (Satellite in Response to the Needs of Humanitarian Organisations) provided essential connectivity to the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations operating in the remote Niger-bordered municipality of Dori, some 265km from the capital Ouagadougou.

Addressing the demand for reliable high-speed connectivity

For several years now, Burkina Faso has been grappling with significant instability, marked by escalating extremist violence, political upheaval and humanitarian crises that have resulted in connectivity challenges. The landlocked country, and the broader Sahel region, have frequently seen terrestrial networks become destroyed or congested. These hurdles have made it difficult for humanitarian organisations to carry out missions, limiting their capacity to support the social and economic well-being of displaced and local communities.

To help address critical connectivity issues, SES and Red Cross Burkina Faso (French version) have launched the SENO project under the ESA BASS framework ‘Space in Response to Humanitarian Crises.’ This partnership provided a reliable, independent and low-latency communication channel for multiple humanitarian organisations in Dori.

IP-based services were used to support displaced individuals and the local community, facilitate the collection and transmission of data using digital applications, online training and collaboration. The medium Earth orbit (MEO)-enabled service allowed significant improvements in daily operations.

“The VSAT connection has a very good throughput, we no longer have any difficulties in transmitting our reports and data collection. Software like Microsoft365, Outlook, TEAMS, OneDrive, requires a good connection,” says one project ECHO/APP CRBF user. “I had always heard about online meetings, and it was a great experience for me to finally benefit from these while in Dori – connecting with colleagues in Kongoussi, Fada and Ouagadougou.”

Helping those most in need

Building on SES’s and Luxembourg’s previous experience in deploying the ICT infrastructure in five locations of Burkina Faso, this collaboration with ESA BASS was a logical step in responding to the evolving needs of the communities and humanitarian workers.

SES’s MEO with its Internet Gateway in Europe, served as the key enabler of the high-performance connectivity solution. End users could enjoy guaranteed 72Mbps download and 33Mbps upload speeds across 11 sites. The initiative was backed by the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) and the local Burkinabe authority responsible for ICT, ANPTIC, who provided access to the telecom infrastructure previously installed in partnership with LuxDev.

The SENO pilot took place over several months and benefitted nearly 900 users, including 217 humanitarian workers, through applications usage such as videoconferencing, emails and more, totalling around 29,000 hours. It also helped humanitarians identify more than 4,400 individuals that needed help and enabled more than 50 displaced people make contact with their families.

“Reliable high-speed connectivity is a critical capability that enables the humanitarian community to provide help on the ground,” says Philippe Glaesener, Senior Vice President, Space & Defence at SES. “MEO satellite services are a key building block in addressing this connectivity need, especially where access to fibre is limited. It was an honour for us to join efforts with the European Space Agency (ESA), the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) and the Red Cross in supporting this meaningful initiative, and leverage our expertise in deploying services for institutions and organisations in remote locations.”