Kacific’s Investment In Innovation Recognised At The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards 2022

Singapore, 19 July 2022 – Kacific is honoured to be recognised for its commitment to innovation at this year’s Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Award organisers have named Kacific as the gold award winner for Most Innovative Tech Start Up of the Year and Most Valuable Technical Innovation Award. Kacific has also been recognised as a silver award winner for Innovative Achievement in Sales or Revenue Generation.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is a premier awards ceremony that celebrates the contributions of businesses and entrepreneurs across 29 Asia-Pacific nations. All award categories have a focus on innovation in all forms and aspects of business.

Innovation is central to Kacific’s values – implementing new initiatives in the sphere of broadband and internet connectivity to serve communities affected by the digital divide. Kacific has a vision of providing reliable and affordable satellite broadband services to underserving communities across the Pacific.

Advanced satellite broadband technologies

Since its establishment, Kacific has offered alternative broadband tools and services through its satellite broadband technologies, to provide communities who have limited digital access with reliable broadband, including those on the outskirts of urban areas. ISPs and telcos have often neglected these areas due to high establishment and servicing costs. Previous satellite services such as C or Ku bands were unreliable and expensive, further adding to the lack of infiltration in these markets.

Valuing innovation and inclusion, Kacific deployed Ka-band satellite technology to provide reliable broadband services to these areas. Ka-band beams can deliver bandwidth to small, light dishes from a geostationary High Throughput Satellite (HTS), reducing the cost of ground equipment to end users. With Ka-band technology, there is higher frequency use and more efficient spectrum quality, meaning Kacific can reduce the cost per Mbps and provide a more affordable service. Using Ka-band technology, Kacific was able to bring affordable and reliable broadband services by partnering with local internet service providers in 25 countries.

Community WiFi

Winner of the Most Valuable Technical Innovation Award, Kacific’s Community WiFi service aims to promote digital inclusion in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a response to the needs of critical workers and communities involved in healthcare, emergency evacuation and disaster recovery, Kacific introduced its new communications service, Kacific Community WiFi.

The service aims at connecting vulnerable communities, especially those living in remote and rural areas by ensuring they have access to high-speed, reliable internet. It gives individuals access to high quality, low-cost satellite broadband internet through the purchase of WiFi vouchers, with 1GB of data priced at less than 2 USD. Using a small 1.2m VSAT satellite dish, a router and a WiFi access point, internet access is made available to those with or without electricity. The set up provides crucial connectivity to remote communities, medical centres, community halls, and schools where internet access was not possible before.

Community WiFi service across 260 medical facilities, schools, and community halls were deployed across the Philippines, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Timor in a matter of months in the face of the pandemic, giving communities who previously lacked mobile networks and connectivity a chance to access high-speed internet services to keep safe and updated on the global pandemic.

An innovative retail broadband franchise model

Kacific is also the first to provide a retail broadband franchise model to manage the value chain. In response to the demands caused by the pandemic, customers could no longer risk long-term commitment to internet plans. Kacific responded proactively by creating Gigstarter, a new prepaid broadband plan based on a monthly model. Gigstarter gives peace of mind to customers who can purchase broadband month-to-month, site-by-site, through light, easy to install VSAT terminals. It is especially appealing to small businesses and entrepreneurs as it is a fully managed service that has unlimited data options. With Kacific Gigstarter, local distributors infiltrate into various market segments in remote areas, increasing connectivity and internet access for communities in need. To make satellite broadband more affordable for customers in underserved markets, Kacific also introduced a new terminal kit consisting of a new, low power, high throughput ST Engineering iDirect MDM2010 IP Satellite modem, paired with an iLNB 3210 transceiver, and the 1.2m VSAT antenna.This, in turn, reduced installation time and brought down the cost of the terminal kit by up to 50 percent, with entry prices starting from USD$570.

Through investments in new, cutting-edge technology, and proactively adapting a product distribution model in the face of the pandemic, Kacific has achieved high quality innovations that have moved it closer to achieving its ESG goals. Its implementation of effective and proactive innovation strategies has proven vital across Asia-Pacific during the pandemic when connectivity and communication have been critical.

PNG, Indonesia, FSM, Vanuatu, the Philippines and Tuvalu now have broadband access thanks to Kacific’s establishment in these markets, getting over 2,400 hospitals, schools, educational institutions clinics and local communities connected. Looking ahead, Kacific will continue to improve its services and technologies to meet the growing demand for digital inclusion, bringing broadband connectivity to those left behind in the digital rollout.

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