Eutelsat signs distribution agreement with Direct Connect to bring high-quality Tooway™ satellite broadband services to Norway
May 15th 2012: Eutelsat Communications, (Euronext Paris: ETL) Europe’s leading satellite operator, has announced its Skylogic subsidiary has signed a distribution agreement with Direct Connect to sell its revolutionary Tooway™ satellite broadband service in Norway from May 15th 2012.
Under the agreement, ISP Direct Connect will be offering the Tooway™ consumer satellite broadband service with speeds of up to 10 Mbps to the most rural areas of Norway, via Eutelsat’s ground-breaking KA-SAT High Throughput satellite. The service will complement Direct Connect’s already strong reputation for providing radiowave broadband to rural communities.
Jan-Tore Dannemark, Direct Connect CEO, said: “The ability to offer Tooway™ satellite broadband is an exciting opportunity to provide high-speed services to the rural communities of Norway, which we have to date been unable to serve by traditional line-of-sight technologies such as radio wave.”
The Tooway™ solution consists of a small satellite dish and a modem connected to the PC via Ethernet, giving customers Internet access without the need for a telephone line. The service is also triple play-ready, allowing distributors to offer additional TV and IP telephony services using the same equipment.
“We believe high speed satellite broadband is an essential solution in achieving an all-inclusive digital environment for Europe and we are delighted to be working with Direct Connect in Norway to assist in this goal,” said Dr Achille De Tommaso, Skylogic CEO.
Tooway™ is delivered by Eutelsat’s KA-SAT High Throughput Satellite, which entered commercial service in May 2011. With its total capacity of more than 70 Gbps, KA-SAT ushers in a new era of competitively-priced, satellite-delivered services for broadcasters, businesses and consumers. The satellite forms the cornerstone of a new satellite infrastructure, which includes eight main satellite gateways across Europe connected to the Internet by a fibre backbone ring.
About Eutelsat Communications
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity commercialised on 28 satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world’s three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. As of 31 December 2011, Eutelsat’s satellites were broadcasting more than 4,150 television channels. More than 1,100 channels are broadcast via its HOT BIRD video neighbourhood at 13 degrees East alone which serves over 120 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Group’s satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat’s broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates access to high speed internet services through teleports in France and Italy that serve enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ just over 700 commercial, technical and operational professionals from 30 countries.
