Viasat Community Wi-Fi Service Now Available to Over One Million People across Mexico
In Cooperation with Grupo Prosperist, Viasat Expects to Bring Digital Inclusion to Even More Communities Across Mexico
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Viasat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT), a global communications company, proudly announced today the Viasat Community Wi-Fi hotspot service is now available within walking distance to more than one million Mexicans living and working in thousands of rural Mexican communities. The Community Wi-Fi service is marketed locally in Mexico under the Conectaless brand.
Establishing successful local distribution and fulfillment partnerships
In 2017, Viasat set up a commercial agreement with Grupo Prosperist, a Mexican telecommunications and technology service provider serving rural Mexico for nearly a decade. Through the arrangement, Viasat and Grupo Prosperist have successfully deployed the Community Wi-Fi service across Mexico, making affordable internet available to many of country's most remote locations. Viasat and Grupo Prosperist have continued to offer additional value-added services beyond connectivity, most recently including a pay-by-the-minute voice phone service and convenient online bill payment services.
The Community Wi-Fi service uses a centralized Wi-Fi hotspot to connect to a Viasat satellite to deliver internet service to remote communities that previously had little or no internet connectivity. The service can be deployed with minimal local infrastructure investment, and can quickly bring cost-effective internet services to emerging markets where large gaps exist between demand and the affordability and availability of internet services.
"In Mexico, there are millions of citizens that have been left unconnected due to high terrestrial and wireless infrastructure deployment costs associated with geographically-dispersed and remote communities," said Kevin Cohen, managing director, Global Community Wi-Fi at Viasat. "Viasat is changing that. Our cost-effective satellite infrastructure and attractive bandwidth economics coupled with our innovative Community Wi-Fi business model, enables us to bring digital inclusion to the region through the availability of affordable, high-quality, high-speed internet services. Today, through our relationship with Grupo Prosperist, we are in reach of over one million Mexican citizens—delivering up to 50 Megabit per second speeds—and we fully expect our opportunity to grow over the next few years as we continue to connect unconnected communities."
Javier Ramirez Navarro, co-founder and CEO at Grupo Prosperist added, "Grupo Prosperist is dedicated to investing in innovative technology and services that will enhance the lives of people throughout rural Mexico. We believe connectivity is a strong medium for economic and social development. By working with Viasat we can bring the internet to millions of Mexicans and help generate a positive socio-economic impact in regions where traditional terrestrial and wireless internet services were either non-existent or cost prohibitive. The demand for Viasat's Community Wi-Fi service has been high, which has led to job creation and local hiring to support the deployment of Viasat's services across the county."
Scaling to meet the Community Wi-Fi service demand in Mexico
Since signing the strategic agreement with Viasat, Grupo Prosperist has hired more than 40 people in Mexico, growing to more than 100 employees between their headquarters in Tijuana and logistics center in Mexico City. Viasat is also evaluating a number of strategic partnerships to provide additional value-added services such as microfinance, mobile banking, education and telemedicine.
For more information on Viasat's Community Wi-Fi platform, visit Viasat's website here.
About Grupo Prosperist
Grupo Prosperist has been working in the telecommunications industry for more than nine years, providing rural Mexico with internet solutions through their Conectaless product, communications and telephony services with their Marcaless product and online payment solutions with Pagaless. The Company has primarily focused on delivering connectivity solutions to remote Mexican markets, bringing solutions that are directly aimed at developing the rural populations that are without cellular coverage or conventional telecom services.
About Viasat
Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For more than 30 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people's lives anywhere they are—on the ground, in the air or at sea. To learn more about Viasat, visit www.viasat.com, go to Viasat's Corporate Blog, or follow the Company on social media at Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements that refer to the relationship between Viasat and Grupo Prosperist; the planned expansion of the Community Wi-Fi service in Mexico; and the potential roll-out of new strategic partnerships to provide value-added services such as microfinance, mobile banking, education and telemedicine. Readers are cautioned that actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include: contractual problems, product defects, manufacturing issues or delays, regulatory issues, technologies not performing in accordance with expectations, increased competition and other factors affecting the Mexican connectivity sector, generally. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in Viasat's SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including Viasat's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Viasat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.
Copyright © 2019 Viasat, Inc. All rights reserved. Viasat is a registered trademark of Viasat, Inc. The Viasat logo is a trademark of Viasat, Inc. All other product or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Viasat, Inc.
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