Eutelsat Communications [Euronext Paris: ETL], a prominent Europeon satellite operator, today announced that its Tooway™ satellite broadband service has been chosen under Ireland’s National Broadband Scheme to deliver high speed broadband connectivity to homes and businesses in rural Ireland.
Tooway™ distributor Satellite Broadband Ireland will deliver the service under its recently won contract from 3, the Irish mobile broadband provider running the National Broadband Scheme on behalf of the Irish Government. Under the scheme, Tooway’s™ satellite broadband service will be delivered to up to 5 percent of the 223,000 targeted buildings across rural Ireland. Those qualifying under the scheme will receive Tooway’s™ 3.6 Mbps broadband service for EU19.99 per month, following a one-off EU49.00 installation & hardware charge. The National Broadband Scheme sees an estimated EU223 million investment by 3, of which a maximum of EU79.8 million will be contributed by the Irish Government and EU, to provide broadband services to the designated electoral districts covered by the scheme.
Arduino Patacchini, Eutelsat Multimedia Director, said: “The choice of Tooway™ and our partner Satellite Broadband Ireland to deliver broadband services to the most rural homes and businesses in Ireland underlines the core role satellites are actively playing in building an inclusive digital environment across Europe.”
Kevin Ryan, CEO of Satellite Broadband Ireland, said; “Satellite Broadband Ireland chose to use Eulestat’s world-leading Tooway™ satellite broadband technology as they are the largest broadband provider through satellite in Europe. Eutelsat’s experience in this sector was also a major factor in our selection.”
Commenting on the announcement Damien Gallagher, NBS Project Director, 3 said: “This strategic agreement with Satellite Broadband Ireland is an important part of our National Broadband Scheme roll-out. Satellite broadband is the only viable option in a small percentage of buildings without which certain parts of rural Ireland would remain unconnected. 3 chose Satellite Broadband Ireland’s cutting-edge, innovative technology and their highly-skilled and experienced Irish workforce.”
Tooway™ is the first two-way satellite broadband service in Europe offering speeds and costs similar to ADSL. The service is based on Eutelsat’s satellite coverage, the commercial and infrastructure operating experience of Eutelsat’s subsidiary Skylogic, and SurfBeam technology developed by ViaSat. This technology used by Tooway™ comes to Europe after acquiring extensive experience on the North American market, where ViaSat already provides the equipment and network for over 400,000 homes with satellite broadband access fully independent from the terrestrial network. Today, Tooway™ already serves customers via more than 40 distributors in 24 countries including Ireland, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Greece, with additional countries across Europe rolling-out over the coming months.
The Tooway™ solution consists of a small satellite dish and a modem connected to the PC, giving customers immediate broadband access following a simple installation. In addition, the Tooway™ service has the ability to deliver Voice over satellite telephony services and Direct-to-Home television using the Tooway™ dish.
In 2010, Eutelsat will expand the service with additional broadband access up to 10Mbps. These revolutionary broadband speeds will come from the launch of KA-SAT, the dedicated new satellite from Eutelsat specifically designed for broadband delivery in Europe. The satellite, which has the combined capacity of 40 traditional satellites, will enable Eutelsat to serve up to two million European homes at a similar speed, price and quality to terrestrial ADSL2 services.
