CARLSBAD, Calif. - (Business Wire) ViaSat (NASDAQ:VSAT) has received a $50 million contract award from Skylogic, the broadband subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications (Eutelsat Communications-Euronext Paris: ETL) for on-ground baseband infrastructure for the previously announced high-capacity KA-SAT Ka-band satellite system. Under the contract, ViaSat will deliver and install broadband equipment for 10 KA-SAT gateways in Europe. The gateways will connect subscribers of Eutelsat Tooway
™ satellite broadband service to the Internet. The ViaSat ground infrastructure will be available for the
KA-SAT launch scheduled for the third quarter of 2010.
ViaSat’s next generation SurfBeam® Ka-band network is being architected expressly to support very high capacity satellites such as KA-SAT and ViaSat-1 in North America. These new space systems will deliver more speed and higher volumes of bandwidth at far lower costs than any existing broadband satellite network. The next generation SurfBeam network, which will be exclusively provided to Eutelsat for the KA-SAT coverage areas, exploits the capabilities of the satellite and is designed to deliver much higher speeds (both upstream and downstream) to the subscriber, significantly better support for bandwidth-intensive Internet media, and faster web browsing. ViaSat will be the exclusive provider of satellite broadband terminals for the new North American and European satellite systems.
“This is the first network infrastructure award resulting from our transformational broadband initiative and leverages ground system economies of scale because it can be used for both high-capacity satellites – KA-SAT and ViaSat-1,” said Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO of ViaSat. “It is exciting to see us begin production and delivery of the network that will bring our shared vision of high-volume satellite broadband services to reality.”
“The ViaSat ground infrastructure and our KA-SAT satellite work hand-in-hand to supply the higher capacity, lower cost bandwidth that is required to successfully meet the requirements of the satellite consumer broadband market,” said Giuliano Berretta, chairman and CEO of Eutelsat. “This new contract marks another step towards delivering our KA-SAT broadband program and further cements our long-standing relationship with ViaSat as our satellite ground equipment partner.”
The Tooway service operated by Eutelsat broadband subsidiary Skylogic, is already operational today using Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD™ 6 and Eurobird™ 3 satellites and the ViaSat SurfBeam networking system.
KA-SAT is a high capacity Ka-band spot beam satellite with planned coverage over Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. With a capacity estimated at 70 Gbps, KA-SAT is expected to be (at launch) the highest capacity satellite in the world. KA-SAT is a European counterpart to ViaSat-1, a 100 Gbps Ka-band broadband satellite designed to serve the North American market and with a planned launch in 2011.
About ViaSat
ViaSat produces innovative satellite and other digital communication products that enable fast, secure, and efficient communications to any location. The company provides networking products and managed network services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technologies to the U.S. government; and is the primary technology partner for gateway and customer-premises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite broadband services. The company has five subsidiaries: US Monolithics, Efficient Channel Coding, Enerdyne Technologies, Intelligent Compression Technologies and JAST. These companies design and produce complementary products such as monolithic microwave integrated circuits, DVB-S2 satellite communication components, video data link systems, data acceleration and compression products, and mobile satellite antenna systems. ViaSat has locations in Carlsbad, CA, and Duluth, GA, along with its Comsat Laboratories division in Germantown, MD. Additional field offices are located in Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Washington DC, Australia, China, India, Italy, and Spain.
Forward-Looking Statements
Portions of this release, particularly statements about the performance and deliveries of ViaSat products and technology, may contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. ViaSat wishes to caution you that there are some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to: the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the ViaSat-1 satellite; pricing pressures and actions taken by competitors; satellite failures or degradations in satellite performance; difficulties in obtaining regulatory approvals; and unexpected expenses related to the project described herein.. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in ViaSat’s SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including without limitation, ViaSat’s annual reports on Form 10-K and ViaSat’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. ViaSat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.
SurfBeam is a registered trademark of ViaSat.
Tooway, HOTBIRD and Eurobird are trademarks of Eutelsat.
Comsat Labs and Comsat Laboratories are tradenames of ViaSat, Inc. Neither Comsat Labs nor Comsat Laboratories is affiliated with COMSAT Corporation. “Comsat” is a registered trademark of COMSAT Corporation. All additional products are trademarks of their respective owners.
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