Eutelsat Announces Distribution Agreement With Egyptsat for its Tooway™ Satellite Broadband Service

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Aug 29, 2011, 09:00 ET

PARIS, August 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Eutelsat Communications, (Euronext Paris: ETL), one of the world's leading satellite operators, today announced a 6-year distribution agreement valued at €20 million between its Skylogic subsidiary and Egyptsat. The agreement enables Egyptsat to use the new-generation Tooway™ satellite service to provide broadband services to users beyond reach of terrestrial or wireless networks across Egypt.

With download speeds of up to 10 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 4 Mbps, Tooway™ satellite broadband will bring fast, reliable and affordable Internet access for Egyptsat customers in areas with limited alternative solutions for broadband. The Tooway™ solution consists of a satellite dish and a modem connected to the PC via Ethernet, giving customers Internet access with no need for a telephone line.

Set up in 2000, Egyptsat is a leading VSAT service provider in the Middle East and Africa. The company is a licensed VSAT operator in Egypt, providing Internet services to oil companies in Egypt and outside of Egypt for offshore locations. Tooway™ will complement the company's product portfolio by offering satellite Internet solutions at competitive prices for small offices and home users in industrial and economic centres in the north of the country who can be served through the KA-SAT spotbeam allocated specifically for Egypt.

"Tooway™ is the best fit for Egypt's new era,with Internet users increasing from 21 million to 25.4 million just after the 25th January revolution. With a price comparable to ADSL, Tooway™ is the passcode for this new era," said Dr. Mohamed Elghamry, CEO of Egyptsat."The service is expected to meet the significant demand in the Egyptian territory and the region, where too many places are in deep need for high speed Internet at reasonable cost".

Arduino Patacchini, CEO of Skylogic, added: "Tooway™ is the ideal broadband service to meet the needs of Egyptsat's customers in rural and difficult to reach areas of the region. We are delighted to work with Egyptsat to extend broadband availability, and look forward to building a close and longstanding partnership which contributes to achieving a high-quality broadband environment in Egypt."

The new-generation Tooway™ service is provided via Eutelsat's KA-SAT High Throughput Satellite, which went into commercial service in May. With its total capacity of more than 70 Gbps, KA-SAT brings a new era of competitively-priced, satellite-delivered services for homes and small businesses across Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. The satellite forms the cornerstone of an infrastructure, which includes eight main satellite gateways connected to the Internet by a fibre backbone ring.

About EGYPTSAT

As one of the earliest satellite service providers in the Middle East, EgyptSat started to provide VSAT solutions in 2000 with services offered to all clients in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya and many of region countries. EgyptSat benefits from being a leading solution developer, through their highly calibre R&D team. Over the years EgyptSat developed more than ten innovative solutions to complement their VSAT service to their clients. Although EgyptSat operates three VSAT hubs in the region, Tooway™ using the KA-SAT satellite is considered as an out of the box idea to offer Satellite Internet solutions at low cost affordable by small offices and home users.
http://http://www.egyptsat.com

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 June 30, 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 30 countries.