Avanti Communications Group has announced the successful launch of HYLAS 2 from the European Spaceport in French Guiana on Ariane flight VA208
David Williams, chief executive of Avanti Communications, said, “I’m delighted that our second satellite, HYLAS 2, has been successfully launched and is operating under our control. It will now undertake a series of pre-planned in-orbit acceptance tests over the coming three months before we commence service for customers.
“HYLAS 2 will provide high-speed data capacity across southern and East Africa. This service changes everything in the data markets in those regions that have previously left companies, governments and consumers poorly served.
“The markets now served by the satellite demonstrate a fantastic combination of strong macroeconomics, high unmet demand for telecoms and low competition in satellite services. I am very excited about our prospects for growth.”
Utilising Ka-band technology, HYLAS 2 will deploy 24 fixed beams and one steerable beam, offering customers flexibility, significantly increased speeds and data throughput at a much lower cost, Avanti claimed.
The use of satellite technology is transforming how businesses and governments access telecoms services, it added. Traditional land-based telecoms infrastructure is not commercially viable in large parts of many emerging market economies, due to issues regarding geographic scale, challenging terrain, security and access to financing.
Satellite communications provision is therefore playing an increasingly important role in bridging the digital divide in these economies, delivering telecoms access to a huge number of potential users who have previously been disenfranchised, it commented.
“This is very attractive to government and enterprise customers, particularly those working in oil, mining, agriculture, banking and security sectors. We also have a major opportunity in carrier services, because our products are now cost-effective enough to provide high quality backhaul and IP trunking to help telcos improve the resilience and capacity of their networks,” Williams added.
Intelsat, which hosts the largest DTH platform in Africa, also launched its new satellite, Intelsat 20, onboard Ariane VA208.
