Skylogic and Sat2Way Sign New Contract for New-Generation Broadband Via Ka-Sat
Paris, April 4 2011
Eutelsat Communications announced a new contract between its Skylogic broadband subsidiary and the French Internet service provider Sat2Way for distribution, from mid-2011, of the Tooway™ new-generation broadband service on the KA-SAT satellite. The agreement builds on a long-term collaboration, since early 2008, when Sat2Way launched the first-generation Tooway™ service using Ka-band capacity on Eutelsat's HOT BIRD™ 6 satellite.
The four-year contract, worth an initial €4 million, allows Sat2Way to offer a range of Tooway™ packages with broadband speeds of up to 10 Mbps.
With over 3,000 subscription requests registered in the first two weeks of pre-sales efforts for the next generation Tooway™ service, Sat2Way expects to exceed its objectives. According to the latest analysis by IDATE, approximately 400,000 French homes, that are mainly located in rural and suburban areas, are not eligible for ADSL, highlighting the potential of satellite broadband in Sat2Way's home market.
Welcoming the new partnership with Eutelsat, Stéphane Ruelle, founder of Sat2Way, said: "We have consistently believed in the market for satellite Internet and are convinced that consumer broadband services using Ka-band frequencies represent a compelling offer. Sat2Way selected Tooway™ as soon as it was available because Skylogic proposed a long-term strategy, using HOT BIRD™ 6 in advance of KA-SAT. The economic model of KA-SAT now positions us to offer a highly competitive range of broadband services to consumers in France, Belgium, and Spain who are unable to access the Internet via terrestrial networks."
Arduino Patacchini, CEO of Skylogic added: "We are delighted with the extension of our commercial agreement with Sat2Way, a longstanding partner and one of the top 10 distributors of Tooway™ in Europe. This new contract, and the interest that our new service is already generating, is further proof of the demand for competitive, high speed satellite broadband services across Europe, and the viability of our KA-SAT programme."
Launched in December 2010, and with total capacity of more than 70 Gbps, KA-SAT will usher in a new era of competitively-priced satellite-delivered services for homes and businesses across Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. KA-SAT uses next-generation two-way wireless Ka-band spotbeam technology, which lowers the cost of providing high-bandwidth access to the Internet.
The complete KA-SAT infrastructure, comprising the satellite and a network of eight gateways across Europe connected to the Internet via a fibre backbone ring, will enter service in mid-2011.
The user equipment for Tooway™ comprises a small satellite dish and a modem connected to the PC via the Ethernet, giving immediate and always-on Internet access following simple installation. The service can also deliver Voice over IP, and Direct-to-Home television.
