Vrio Corporation, parent company of DIRECTV Latin America and Sky Brasil, and Project Kuiper, Amazon’s LEO satellite broadband network, recently announced a distribution agreement to offer internet connectivity in seven countries in South America.
Vrio plans to use Project Kuiper’s network to provide connectivity services to residential customers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia through DIRECTV Latin America and Sky Brasil, in accordance with local regulations. This agreement will bring new affordable, high-speed internet connectivity options to an area with a total population of approximately 383 million people, including approximately 200 million people the World Bank estimates are still not connected to the internet.
DIRECTV and Sky will use Project Kuiper’s low-latency, high-bandwidth satellite network to bring the benefits of fast and reliable internet to areas that would otherwise be both challenging and prohibitively expensive to serve. With Project Kuiper, the companies will offer nationwide coverage in each country—something that is not practical with traditional connectivity options like fiber optics or fixed wireless that require extensive infrastructure.
Project Kuiper recently tested two prototype satellites as part of its successful Protoflight mission. It expects to begin deploying its satellite constellation in the coming months, and to start service demonstrations with Vrio and other select customers later this year.
Darío Werthein, president of Vrio Corp., said, “This collaboration with Project Kuiper is in line with our strategy of extending our services throughout South America and continues to define us as a regional leader in information, digital entertainment, connectivity and innovation promotion. We are concerned with bridging the technology gap and even more so the digital divide for our future generations. And the time is now. Our commitment translates into action. Providing internet access across the region ensures the development of communities; and that is a commitment for our company. We look forward to bringing the benefits of affordable internet access and connectivity to more communities to reach further with a service that will revolutionize the way people connect.”
“Project Kuiper is a powerful opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president for devices and services. “There are hundreds of millions of households around the world that don’t have access to reliable broadband internet, which means they can’t take part in things that we can take for granted, like being able to learn online, run a business online, shop, or enjoy streaming entertainment. Working with Vrio to bring affordable access to broadband means we can enable so many more people to create, connect, and learn in new ways.”
“Project Kuiper’s mission is to deliver fast, affordable broadband to areas that have traditionally been difficult to reach,” said Rajeev Badyal, vice president of technology and head of Project Kuiper at Amazon. “Our network has the capacity and flexibility to serve tens of millions of customers around the world, and this distribution agreement with Vrio is part of our commitment to working with regional providers who share that vision. We look forward to working with Vrio to serve customers across South America.”
Vrio Corp. is a leading American media and technology company in Latin America and the Caribbean in digital entertainment services, content production, information and connectivity with more than 40 million viewers in 11 countries. It offers high-quality content live and on demand through DIRECTV Latin America, SKY Brasil, DGO and SKY+, with sporting events, international events and exclusive programming in Brazil through the SKY brand and in Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Curacao, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay through the DIRECTV brand. DGO is its subscription service (OTT) via internet that provides access to a variety of live and on-demand programming in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. The company also offers fiber optic internet through DFIBRA in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and SKY Fibra in Brazil; and has state-of-the-art satellites and transmission centers, thanks to which it is possible to deliver a wide variety of content to homes in 4K format. Likewise, the firm controls the sports network Torneos y Competencias (TyC) in Argentina and Colombia.
