Agility Beyond Space, Sonema expand Africa connectivity pact

Agility Beyond Space and Sonema have signed a new long-term capacity agreement on ABS-3A, extending an eight-year relationship aimed at keeping enterprise networks resilient across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The deal gives Sonema stable satellite capacity as it grows cloud, cybersecurity, hosting and managed services.

Why it matters: - The agreement gives Sonema committed satellite capacity to support business-critical networks where outages can disrupt banking, energy, mining and other essential operations. - The deal strengthens Sonema’s ability to deliver availability, redundancy and operational resilience across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. - The partnership supports Sonema’s expansion in cloud, cybersecurity, hosting and managed services.

What happened: - Agility Beyond Space FZ-LLC and Sonema announced a new long-term capacity agreement on ABS-3A. - The companies said the deal deepens an eight-year partnership that began in 2018 around a specific connectivity need. - The agreement is a multi-year commitment and one of the largest the two companies have signed to date.

The details: - The capacity agreement is part of Sonema’s broader connectivity architecture, which combines satellite, terrestrial connectivity, fibre, SD-WAN and managed infrastructure services. - Sonema and Agility Beyond Space jointly planned the transition from existing third-party capacity, including transponder allocation, sequencing and capacity ramp-up. - The migration was completed without interruption to Sonema customers. - Sonema already provides backup and failover connectivity for banking and financial institutions operating across more than 40 countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. - Sonema serves more than 300 customers across over 40 countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. - Sonema’s customer base is strongest in banking and financial services, energy, oil and gas and mining. - Sonema combines satellite and terrestrial connectivity, cloud and hosting services, cybersecurity, SD-WAN, network optimisation, managed services and 24/7 operational support. - Sonema’s multilingual network operations centre provides continuous monitoring and operational support for business-critical networks. - Agility Beyond Space is headquartered in Dubai and marks 20 years of service in 2026. - Agility Beyond Space operates a five-satellite geostationary fleet reaching about 93% of the world’s population.

Between the lines: - The deal shows both companies are moving beyond simple bandwidth sales toward longer-term managed outcomes. - Sonema is preserving flexibility as satellite connectivity shifts toward more diverse, multi-orbit architectures. - The agreement fits Sonema’s Prosperity strategy, which aims to scale capabilities and strengthen its African footprint. - The deal also aligns with Agility Beyond Space’s Horizon strategy, which emphasizes managed services and customer outcomes over raw capacity alone. - Executives at both companies framed the partnership as a way to carry responsibility for the end customer’s network performance.

What's next: - Sonema will use the committed capacity to support continued growth across Africa and beyond. - Agility Beyond Space will continue building its Horizon strategy around managed connectivity and partner-led service delivery. - The companies are expected to present the partnership as a model for future long-term enterprise connectivity deals.

The bottom line: - The agreement locks in resilient satellite capacity for Sonema and gives Agility Beyond Space a deeper role in the long-term performance of enterprise networks across key markets.