Archive for June, 2010
SES ASTRA adds French WIMAX Operator Wibox as Distribution Partner For ASTRA2Connect
SES ASTRA, an SES company, announced that it has signed an agreement with the French WIMAX operator Wibox for the distribution of its satellite-based broadband service ASTRA2Connect. Wibox will offer SES ASTRA’s broadband access to end customers, small and home offices as well as small and medium enterprises especially in regions without terrestrial networks. The marketing will begin in July 2010.
“We are very delighted that Wibox has chosen ASTRA2Connect to extend its service portfolio for high speed internet connections”, said Norbert Willems, Managing Director of ASTRA Broadband Services, SES ASTRA’s broadband subsidiary. “Wibox is the first WIMAX operator to use our successful satellite broadband technology. The agreement will allow Wibox to provide 100% coverage everywhere in France without an additional investment into costly infrastructure.”
“The ASTRA2Connect solution allows Wibox to offer its subscribers a universal service, including those who are not connected to terrestrial networks,” said David El Fassy, President of Wibox. “Wibox can therefore always offer the right technical solution to connect its customers to the broadband internet – no matter where they live.”
With more than 60,000 end users, ASTRA2Connect is the most successful satellite broadband service in Europe. Offering always-on and interactive broadband internet access for flat service fees, ASTRA2Connect is immediately available anywhere within the footprint of the satellite. ASTRA2Connect is marketed via wholesalers and internet service providers to the residential, industrial and maritime markets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Iran to orbit 5-6 telecom satellites 'soon'
Tehran is planning to launch up to six satellites in the near future, Fars news agency quoted Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taqipour as saying.
“We are currently carrying out a project that will see… the launch of five to six satellites,” he said. “We hope to send one satellite into space in the first half of the coming year.”
He said Iran had made significant progress in developing its aerospace industry over the past three to four years, mentioning in particular the launch of the indigenous satellite Omid (Hope) in February.
Since launching the Omid, Tehran has unveiled three new satellites (Tolou, Mesbah II and Navid) and one carrier rocket.
Taqipour also said Iran was planning to build new launch pads.
Turkey to launch small satellite next year
Turkey will launch a small satellite next year as a test for an ambitious communication satellite in 2015.
The semi-official Anatolia news agency quoted Ozkan Dalbay, director general of turkey’s satellite communications company TURKSAT, as saying: “TURKSAT plans to test a small satellite as early as 2011 and send it to space.” He said that TURKSAT will send a communication satellite, totally designed and manufactured in turkey, to space at the beginning of 2015. He said TURKSAT planned a 10-year satellite strategy, ” according to the plan, we will launch the satellite to space in 2015 and 2017.” Within the scope of the project, he said, around 25 people attended technology transfer programs organized in foreign countries.
TURKSAT signed a cooperation protocol with Istanbul Technical University (ITU), he said, adding: “TURKSAT needs to share both academic and practical experience in planning stage. ITU launched a satellite to space last year.”