Telekom Austria Group and Eutelsat Announce High-Speed Satellite Broadband Capabilities
• Satellite broadband rounds off the company’s fixed net and mobile Internet service portfolio and allows a 100% Internet coverage throughout the TAG Footprint
• One out of three households have no Internet access in some operating countries of the Telekom Austria Group[1]
• Expansion of the partnership with Eutelsat enables broadband, voice telephony and TV services
The Telekom Austria Group today announced that, from now on, its domestic subsidiary A1 will offer satellite broadband in Austria. In some operating countries of the Telekom Austria Group’s footprint almost one third of all households have no Internet access. In Austria, for instance, the number of buildings that are not covered by the A1 communications infrastructure and therefore have no DSL-based Internet access is estimated to amount to roughly 1%. A more concerning fact is that in frontier zones and mountain regions, the nearest A1 switching center or the closest mobile base station is too far away to enable broadband Internet. In order to be able to provide these households and businesses with Internet access A1, together with its partner Eutelsat, will now offer broadband Internet via satellite connection.
In addition to providing fixed net and mobile Internet connectivity, the Telekom Austria Group will enable satellite broadband services with download and upload speeds of up to 22 and 6 Mbps respectively. The expanded cooperation with Eutelsat allows for triple-play services including broadband, voice telephony and TV (via Eutelsat 16A satellite). Both companies announced their cooperation partnership in September 2013, which enables the delivery of TV services via satellite in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
Satellite services are available in all A1 shops across Austria. Further rollouts are planned across the Group’s operating markets in 2015.
“We are delighted to be able to announce the expansion of our partnership with Eutelsat. Based on these broadband services, we are now in a position to reach those remotely located areas across our operating footprint, which have not had access to our Internet infrastructure to date. SAT broadband is therefore a perfect supplement to our existing network infrastructure as it allows us to meet this additional demand for Internet coverage”, said Stefan Amon, Director Wholesale Telekom Austria Group, about the new possibilities.
Jean-Francois Fenech, General Manager at Eutelsat Broadband, commented: “This agreement and our relationship with Telekom Austria Group is the perfect example of how Eutelsat can work with international telecom operators to assist them to offer high-value multimedia services to their customers across Europe. We are delighted to now be delivering broadband services alongside TAG’s DTH platform to make triple play a reality across Central and Eastern Europe and to further contribute to bridging the Digital Divide in the region.”
In order to directly communicate to the KA-SAT satellite, the service requires a small satellite dish and modem and operates without the need for a fixed telephone line. Installation of user equipment is carried out by a Telekom Austria Group’s qualified installer.
[1] http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=isoc_ci_in_h&lang=en
About Telekom Austria Group
Telekom Austria Group, listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since November 2000, is the leading communications provider in Central and Eastern Europe with roughly 23 million customers across its markets of operations. The Group is currently operating in eight countries: Austria (A1), Bulgaria (Mobiltel), Belarus (velcom), Croatia (Vipnet), Slovenia (Si.mobil), the Republic of Serbia (Vip mobile) and the Republic of Macedonia (Vip operator), and Liechtenstein (Telekom Liechtenstein). The total market of the eight countries covers approximately 41 million inhabitants. The Group has more than 16,000 employees as of September 30, 2014, Group revenues were roughly EUR 4.2 billion as of year-end 2013. Telekom Austria Group’s portfolio encompasses products and services of voice telephony, broadband Internet, multimedia services, data and IT solutions, wholesale as well as m-payment solutions.
About Eutelsat
Established in 1977, Eutelsat Communications (NYSE Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is one of the world’s leading and most experienced operators of communications satellites. The company provides capacity on 35 satellites to clients that include broadcasters and broadcasting associations, pay-TV operators, video, data and Internet service providers, enterprises and government agencies. Eutelsat’s satellites provide ubiquitous coverage of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, enabling video, data, broadband and government communications to be established irrespective of a user’s location. Headquartered in Paris, with offices and teleports around the globe, Eutelsat represents a workforce of 1,000 men and women from 32 countries who are experts in their fields and work with clients to deliver the highest quality of service.
For more about Eutelsat please visit www.eutelsat.com
