ViaSat (NASDAQ:VSAT) has received a $50 million contract award from
Skylogic, the broadband subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications (Eutelsat
Communications-Euronext Paris: ETL) for on-ground baseband
infrastructure for the previously announced high-capacity KA-SAT Ka-band
satellite system. Under the contract, ViaSat will deliver and install
broadband equipment for 10 KA-SAT gateways in Europe. The gateways will
connect subscribers of Eutelsat Tooway™
satellite broadband service to the Internet. The ViaSat ground
infrastructure will be available for the KA-SAT
launch scheduled for the third quarter of 2010.
ViaSat’s next generation SurfBeam®
Ka-band
network is being architected expressly to support very high capacity
satellites such as KA-SAT and ViaSat-1
in North America. These new space systems will deliver more speed and
higher volumes of bandwidth at far lower costs than any existing
broadband satellite network. The next generation SurfBeam network, which
will be exclusively provided to Eutelsat for the KA-SAT coverage areas,
exploits the capabilities of the satellite and is designed to deliver
much higher speeds (both upstream and downstream) to the subscriber,
significantly better support for bandwidth-intensive Internet media, and
faster web browsing. ViaSat will be the exclusive provider of satellite
broadband terminals for the new North American and European satellite
systems.
"This is the first network infrastructure
award resulting from our transformational broadband initiative and
leverages ground system economies of scale because it can be used for
both high-capacity satellites – KA-SAT and
ViaSat-1,” said Mark Dankberg, chairman and
CEO of ViaSat. "It is exciting to see us begin
production and delivery of the network that will bring our shared vision
of high-volume satellite broadband services to reality.”
"The ViaSat ground infrastructure and our
KA-SAT satellite work hand-in-hand to supply the higher capacity, lower
cost bandwidth that is required to successfully meet the requirements of
the satellite consumer broadband market,”
said Giuliano Berretta, chairman and CEO of Eutelsat. "This
new contract marks another step towards delivering our KA-SAT broadband
program and further cements our long-standing relationship with ViaSat
as our satellite ground equipment partner.”
The Tooway service operated by Eutelsat broadband subsidiary Skylogic,
is already operational today using Eutelsat’s
HOT BIRD™ 6 and Eurobird™
3 satellites and the ViaSat SurfBeam
networking system.
KA-SAT is a high capacity Ka-band spot beam satellite with planned
coverage over Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. With a
capacity estimated at 70 Gbps, KA-SAT is expected to be (at launch) the
highest capacity satellite in the world. KA-SAT is a European
counterpart to ViaSat-1, a 100 Gbps Ka-band broadband satellite designed
to serve the North American market and with a planned launch in 2011.
About ViaSat
ViaSat produces innovative satellite and other digital communication
products that enable fast, secure, and efficient communications to any
location. The company provides networking products and managed network
services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of
network-centric military communications and encryption technologies to
the U.S. government; and is the primary technology partner for gateway
and customer-premises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite
broadband services. The company has five subsidiaries: US Monolithics,
Efficient Channel Coding, Enerdyne Technologies, Intelligent Compression
Technologies and JAST. These companies design and produce complementary
products such as monolithic microwave integrated circuits, DVB-S2
satellite communication components, video data link systems, data
acceleration and compression products, and mobile satellite antenna
systems. ViaSat has locations in Carlsbad, CA, and Duluth, GA, along
with its Comsat Laboratories division in Germantown, MD. Additional
field offices are located in Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Washington DC,
Australia, China, India, Italy, and Spain.
Forward-Looking Statements
Portions of this release, particularly statements about the performance
and deliveries of ViaSat products and technology, may contain
forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to
risks and uncertainties. ViaSat wishes to caution you that there are
some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially,
including but not limited to: the ability to realize the anticipated
benefits of the ViaSat-1 satellite; pricing pressures and actions taken
by competitors; satellite failures or degradations in satellite
performance; difficulties in obtaining regulatory approvals; and
unexpected expenses related to the project described herein.. In
addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in ViaSat’s
SEC filings available at www.sec.gov,
including without limitation, ViaSat’s annual
reports on Form 10-K and ViaSat’s 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.
SurfBeam is a registered trademark of ViaSat.
Tooway, HOTBIRD and Eurobird are trademarks of Eutelsat.
Comsat Labs and Comsat Laboratories are tradenames of ViaSat, Inc.
Neither Comsat Labs nor Comsat Laboratories is affiliated with COMSAT
Corporation. "Comsat”
is a registered trademark of COMSAT Corporation. All additional products
are trademarks of their respective owners.