This indicates the potential for operators in African countries including South Africa, Nigeria, and Angola, to form a user consortium to lease one or more full transponders, for considerable potential savings for each operator in such a consortium. States in the Afganistan, Iraq and Iran may be able to do similarly. Satellite communications have been dominated by relatively low-bandwidth C-band systems; although they are fairly reliable (e.g., in rain storms), commercial systems currently used by some African countries are not optimized to serve this market, so available bandwidth is expensive. Elsewhere in the world, Ku- and Ka-band systems are serving small, scattered communities with broadband direct-to-home/business models. Service providers have been providing price-competitive rural connectivity in rural Africa, using the Intelsat and SES New Skies satelites.