Taking the Tour de Timor to the world via Kacific’s satellite connections

31 August 2017

Mountain bike enthusiasts around the globe will be able to follow every stage of Asia’s most famous mountain bike race, the 2017 Tour de Timor. This is the result of a broadband services agreement signed today between Tour organisers, Noble Timor, and Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific), the exclusive internet partner of the Tour de Timor and sponsor of a team in the 2017 event.

The Tour, which runs from 19 to 23 September, is Timor-Leste’s flagship international sporting event. It features five gruelling days of racing covering almost 500 km, with 10,000 meters of climbs and vertical ascents of up to 37°, making it one of the world’s toughest endurance events.

Using its interim satellite service, Kacific will provide terminals and internet connectivity to the organisers and participants in the Tour de Timor for the duration of the event. These will be used extensively in the race camps of Aileu and Maliana to support race management, website updates and communications, and uploads by media organisations that follow the Tour. In addition, a mobile unit will provide internet coverage along the daily stages allowing enhanced communications for medical support and media coverage in some of the most remote areas of Timor-Leste.

Announcing the agreement Board President of Noble Timor, HE, the former President of the Republic, José Ramos-Horta, said: “With Kacific’s support the 2017 Tour de Timor will have outstanding global coverage delivering video, images and stories to more people in more countries than ever before. These will help showcase the natural beauty of Timor-Leste to an international audience.”

Kacific CEO Christian Patouraux has a long association with the Tour de Timor: he rode in the 2011 and 2012 events, when he first met Mr Ramos-Horta.

“As a Tour alumnus, I am personally delighted to be involved with this great event once again,” said Mr Patouraux. “Not only is it one of the toughest races in the world, it also brings together the combined power of international sport, national interest and global communications. It helps put the most remote parts of Timor-Leste in touch with the world and lets the world discover what rural Timor has to offer. This is very much in line with Kacific’s value proposition of connecting people in the world’s most remote places to the rest of humanity.

“We see this as a relationship with a bright future. Within two years, when our Kacific-1 satellite is fully operational, we will be able to deliver an even faster low cost broadband service to all the people of Timor-Leste”

The Tour de Timor began in 2009 as an initiative of Mr Ramos-Horta, as part of his “Dili – City of Peace” campaign. The 2017 event will demonstrate Timor-Leste’s enthusiasm and preparedness for inclusion in ASEAN, with participants from every ASEAN nation taking part in the race under the event’s banner “Timor-Leste-ASEAN Peace Bridge”.