ASTRA CONNECT SOLUTION SELECTED FOR UK SATELLITE PILOT
Exmoor villages chosen for Government-funded pilot project
Luxembourg, 12 February 2015 - SES (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) today announced that its Astra Connect for Communities solution will be used in a UK Government-funded Market Test Pilot (MTP) project. These Pilot projects aim to assess which technologies and commercial models are best suited to deliver superfast broadband to the final five percent of households in the UK that currently do not have access to high-speed internet.
SES is working with Satellite Internet, the UK-based Internet Service Provider, to deliver its satellite broadband solution to the villages of Simonsbath and Luxborough in south-west England. The villages, each with a population of about 200 residents and located in Exmoor National Park, will benefit from a Satellite Distribution Node (SDN) and a Wi-Fi head-end technology providing homes with internet speeds of up to 25 Mbps.
Last year SES successfully rolled out several Astra Connect for Communities networks in Germany's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Baden-Wurttemberg states. Another 35 networks are due to be completed by the end of June 2015 in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Satellite Internet was selected for this project by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport in June 2014, having applied for funding from Broadband Delivery UK's GBP 10 million Innovation Fund. The provider has worked closely with Connecting Devon and Somerset, a public-private partnership of six local authorities set up to deliver next generation broadband infrastructure to areas where commercial investment plans are absent.
A feasibility study for this project has already been carried out and the deployment in Luxborough started last month. Further installations in Somerset are due to take place later this year.
"This is a great initiative and we are pleased that our proven, reliable and cost-effective satellite solution is being evaluated for potential nationwide roll-out in the UK," said Patrick Biewer, Managing Director of SES Broadband Service.
Secretary of Culture, Media & Sport Sajid Javid said: "We want everyone in the UK to be able to enjoy the benefits of superfast broadband, that's why we have begun work on reaching the last five percent of communities not covered by existing plans."
Read the full report on the Government pilot projects
For further information please contact:
Markus Payer
Corporate Communications
Tel : +352 710 725 500
[email protected]
SES Pictures are available under https://www.ses.com/media-gallery
About SES
SES is the world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of more than 50 geostationary satellites. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organisations worldwide.
SES stands for long-lasting business relationships, high-quality service and excellence in the broadcasting industry. The culturally diverse regional teams of SES are located around the globe and work closely with customers to meet their specific satellite bandwidth and service requirements.
SES (NYSE Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) holds participations in Ciel in Canada and QuetzSat in Mexico, as well as a strategic participation in satellite infrastructure start-up O3b Networks. Further information under: www.ses.com.
About Satellite Internet
Satellite Internet is a specialist satellite ISP serving homes and businesses in rural and hard-to-reach areas all over the UK and Eire. It is a division of BeyonDSL which was launched in 2001 by a team of people involved in the first IP-over-DVB-S trials in Europe and the development of digital TV and interactive services over satellite.
Based in London, while offering a national installation service, Satellite Internet has extensive experience in low-cost satellite broadband for consumers and SMEs and is proud to be SES Broadband Services' partner in the UK.
