Eutelsat & Yahsat: Broadband expansion in Africa

Eutelsat Group and YahClick, the data solutions arm of Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PJSC (Yahsat), the UAE’s flagship satellite solutions provider, have collaborated to expand broadband services in Africa, leveraging EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite capacity

This agreement allows YahClick to utilise capacity on Eutelsat’s geostationary satellite, EUTELSAT KONNECT.

This collaboration between the two prominent satellite operators aligns with Yahsat’s strategic goals to enhance its services and foster growth across its satellite broadband footprint in Africa. It aims to offer improved services and extend into new markets within Africa and beyond. As part of this arrangement, Yahsat gains exclusive rights to Eutelsat’s KONNECT capacity over Ethiopia, a rapidly expanding market in Africa.

Launched in November 2020, EUTELSAT KONNECT is a high-throughput satellite that provides substantial resources for broadband services, boasting 75 Gbps of capacity across a network of 65 spotbeams. Initially serving Europe and Africa, the satellite's entire capacity is gradually being dedicated to offering coverage specifically tailored for Africa.

Sulaiman Al Ali, chief commercial officer of Yahsat, remarked, ‘We are delighted to partner with Eutelsat and have access to state-of-the-art orbital assets, to support our satellite network. This partnership shall enable us to further enhance our portfolio and drive growth of our ‘YahClick’ broadband services to consumer and enterprise markets. Yahsat supported Eutelsat in the early years of its African Broadband journey, and we are happy to be collaborating once again to ensure our existing and future customers benefit from the highest level of service and availability.”

Ghassan Murat, Eutelsat’s regional vice-president of the AMEA region added, “We are honoured to further deepen our ties with our long-standing partner, Yahsat. Yahsat’s strong presence in Africa and the Middle East through the successful deployment of its YahClick satellite broadband service, together with the uptake we are seeing as we progressively transfer EUTELSAT KONNECT capacity to Africa highlight the buoyant demand for robust broadband services in the market, and the pertinence of satellite in connecting users, even in the most remote locations.”