Datagroup Selects Eutelsat's Tooway™ Satellite Service to Roll-Out Broadband to Consumers and Businesses in the Ukraine
PARIS and KIEV, Ukraine, June 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --
Datagroup, the Ukrainian telecommunications operator, has signed an agreement with Skylogic, the broadband affiliate of Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) to deliver broadband solutions to consumers and enterprises in the Ukraine, including the Tooway™ broadband service delivered via Eutelsat's innovative KA-SAT satellite.
The announcement was made on June 15 in Kiev during a presentation organised in the presence of Peter Yatsuk, Chairman of the National Commission for Communications Regulation (NCCR) at the Ukrainian State Centre of Radio Frequencies and attended by its Director Pavlo Slobodianuk.
From September, Datagroup will launch consumer broadband using its "Internet Boom" trademark. Users will be able to receive an always-on satellite service delivering speeds of up to 10 Mbps downstream and 4 Mbps upstream. The customer equipment comprises a small satellite dish (77 cm) and a sleek modem, which is connected to a PC or Mac via an Ethernet connection.
Business customers will also be able to meet professional requirements for higher bitrates and/or higher quality services for applications including private networks, broadband access for businesses and institutions, back-up services and remote monitoring (SCADA). For these services, an advanced system also provided through KA-SAT, will increase speeds to 50 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream.
Satellite broadband via KA-SAT will also be deployed by Datagroup for the "School Internet" programme initiated in September 2010 by the Kiev Regional State Administration. As the majority of schools in the Kiev region are located too far from terrestrial networks, their Internet connectivity will be provided by satellite using the Tooway™ service to offer students and teachers the benefits of high speed and high-quality Internet access.
"The launch of Eutelsat's new generation KA-SAT satellite and the Tooway™ service now allows us to offer end usersan Internet solutionmatching traditional terrestrial technologies, wherever they are located," said Alexander Danchenko, CEO of Datagroup. "Tooway™-based services will enable the Ukraine to resolve the problem of Internet-inequality between cities and remote communities."
"With its extensive experience of consumer and business telecommunications markets,Datagroup isthe ideal partner to leverage new-generation satellite services that can immediatelyextendbroadband to the remotest areas of the Ukraine," said Arduino Patacchini, CEO of Skylogic. "We are delighted to see satellite technologies and our KA-SAT programme integrated into the development of the Ukraine's digital economy."
In service since May 2011, Eutelsat's high-capacity all Ka-band system, combining satellite and on-ground infrastructure, opens a new chapter in the market for satellite-based IP services. Its revolutionary concept is based on a payload with 82 narrow spotbeams connected to 10 ground stations. This configuration enables frequencies to be reused 20 times and takes total throughput to beyond 70 Gbps. The ground network uses ViaSat's SurfBeam® 2 technology, an advanced version of the technology already powering broadband connectivity for 500,000 satellite homes in North America. The combination of KA-SAT's exceptional capacity and SurfBeam® 2 enables Internet connectivity to be delivered at speeds comparable to ADSL for more than one million homes in Europe and large parts of the Mediterranean Basin.
About Datagroup
Datagroup is a leading telecommunication operator on the Ukrainian integrated fixed-line communications market. Datagroup has 52 offices all over the country, and it provides the whole range of services in 32 cities of Ukraine.
In summer 2010, Datagroup's top management announced attraction of $40 million of investments into development of the company. The investor was Horizon Capital, an equity fund management company.
For individual customers, Datagroup presented its retail trademark «Domashniy Telecom». Under this trademark, Internet and telephony services are provided. «Domashniy Telecom» has 210 thousands customers (Internet and telephony services).
Datagroup has in its disposal an own fiber optic network in all regions of the Ukraine with total length of 12500 km, satellite transmitting stations, and intracity fiber optic networks stretching for over 4320 km. Datagroup has its own dedicated number resource of 201.4 thousand numbers, and a sales, distribution and maintenance network all over Ukraine.
About Eutelsat Communications
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A. With capacity commercialised on 27 satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. At March 31, 2011, Eutelsat's satellites were broadcasting more than 3,800 television channels to over 200 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Group's satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat's broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates access to high speed Internet services through teleports in France and Italy that serve enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ 700 commercial, technical and operational employees from 28 countries.
SOURCE Eutelsat Communications & Datagroup
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