Oct. 23 2012

 Hughes Europe and Bentley Walker will launch Ka-band communications services in the Middle East over the Avanti Hylas 2 satellite, opening up significant new satellite capacity in the region.

As part of the new agreement, which builds on the companies' existing long-standing relationship, Bentley Walker has purchased three additional Gateway NOCs from Hughes. This includes two of the latest HX System 4.0s, enabling resellers to set up local Virtual Network Operators (VNOs).

This will allow Bentley Walker to augment its existing Ka-band broadband offering, providing broadband communications services to US military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan for morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) purposes. Existing users will be able to benefit from an easy upgrade path to the new Ka-band service, which offers higher throughput speeds at lower cost using a smaller dish.

"With our strong history of success working with Hughes Europe, together with Avanti's reputation for technical excellence, we are delighted to be among the first resellers to take full advantage of the new Ka-band services," confirms Anthony Walker, CEO of Bentley Walker. "This will enable us to offer higher speed packages, allowing soldiers to benefit from consistent broadband delivery at the speeds they choose."

Chris O'Dell, vice president of sales at Hughes Europe, said, "We have unrivalled experience as the largest provider of broadband services to the consumer market in the US and we understand what individual users want. This landmark deal with Bentley Walker will provide enhanced services to soldiers who need reliable and secure communications to stay in touch with family and friends while they are deployed."