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Newtec Delivers VSAT Platform for Extension of Eutelsat’s Broadband Services Towards the French West Indies and French Guiana

25 November 2013

An important project involving satellite operator Eutelsat and regional ISP Caribsat to bridge the digital divide in the French West Indies and French Guiana will make use of Newtec’s Sat3Play® VSAT Broadband Platform.

Ku-Band Coverage Map of EUTELSAT 8 West A Satellite, ©Eutelsat

Eutelsat announced end of last week the completion of a distribution agreement for the IP Easy satellite broadband service with Caribsat, which will be provided through the EUTELSAT 8 West A satellite. Caribsat’s service will commence before the end of the year in Guadaloupe and will deliver consumers and small businesses Internet connectivity with initial download speeds ranging from 512 Kbps to 6 Mbps. The service will be extended to Martinique, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barth and French Guiana from January 2014.

“We selected Newtec as our technology partner for a number of reasons, not least the reliability and high efficiency of its products. Newtec's Sat3Play product, with its Point&Play self-installation also enables end users to autonomously install the complete system with no specific qualification or expensive tooling needed,” said Jean-François Leprince-Ringuet, Eutelsat’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Eutelsat first announced it would be using Newtec’s technology for its IP Easy services in 2012 when it successfully launched a broadband platform for Sub Saharan Africa with a Newtec hub located at Eutelsat’s Mediterranean teleport. Later that year it extended the coverage to Indian Ocean islands by adding a second hub installed at the Rambouillet teleport in France. The Caribbean IP Easy Service is powered from a teleport in the US.

“We are pleased to once again be Eutelsat’s partner of choice as it extends its IP Easy service to the Caribbean. Our dedication to maximum bandwidth efficiency, low cost terminals and a true broadband experience for consumers and businesses is fully aligned with Eutelsat’s aim to deliver broadband services to a growing geographical reach and mainly to regions in need,” added Serge Van Herck, CEO of Newtec. 

According to figures highlighted by Eutelsat, 66% of the more than one million people living in the French West Indies and French Guiana have a PC but only 50% have access to reliable broadband connectivity (according to ARCEP data from July 2013).