A multiyear capacity
agreement between Eutelsat Communications (ETL) and Yahsat will provide Broadband
for Africa, Eutelsat’s African broadband subsidiary, the right to top-notch,
commercial Ka-band capacity for broadband solutions throughout sub-Saharan
Africa.
“We are delighted to initiate this relationship with Yahsat
and to put our Africa broadband program back on track,” Laurent Grimaldi,
CEO of Broadband for Africa, said. “We fully share Yahsat’s
conviction in the long-term role satellites will play in wireless connectivity
and in the need for high-quality infrastructure to transform Africa’s broadband
landscape.”
The agreement states that Broadband for Africa will use
capacity up to 16 Ka-band spotbeams on the Yahsat 1B satellite to be able to
offer broadband services for the first four months of 2017. Services will be
expanded in the later portion of 2017 on capacity of 18 spotbeams on Yahsat’s
Al Yah 3 satellite, which is set to launch in early 2017.
Sub-Saharan African
coverage is offered on both the Yahsat 1B and Al Yah 3, which are equipped with
high-power spotbeams. This type of coverage is suitable for community and direct-to-user internet service where commercial equipment can be used.
A Launchpad explosion in September resulted in the loss of
the Amos-6 satellite, which was the previous payload for Eutelsat. The African
Broadband service will be implemented during the first four months of 2017,
allowing Eutelsat to return to its original strategic plan of a revenue stream
of €15 million for fiscal year 2017-18 and €25-30 million for fiscal year 2018-19.
“We believe it is
important for us to collaborate with our industry peers to drive our common
goal of connecting individuals, businesses and governments around the world
with affordable and reliable broadband services,” Amit Somani, chief strategy
officer at Yahsat, said. “We are delighted to have Broadband for Africa as a
long-term customer on our satellites, laying yet another cornerstone in our
expansion strategy and reinforcing the global trend towards higher efficiency
Ka-band solutions.”
