Avonline welcomes Eutelsat KA-SAT satellite launch...
Added: 6th January 2011
Avonline, the UK's leading rural satellite broadband provider, welcomes the Eutelsat KA-SAT satellite launch.
KA-SAT owned by Eutelsat, who already partner with Avonline to provide Satellite Broadband to consumers in the UK via its Tooway service, will bring increased speed, higher download volumes and more functionality as well as reduced cost opportunities to Avonline's Tooway customers.
The KA-SAT satellite of Eutelsat Communications was successfully launched into orbit by a Proton Breeze M rocket supplied by ILS. Lift-off of Eutelsat's 6.1 tonne satellite took place on 26 December at 21.51 GMT and after a 9-hour 12-minute flight, the launcher released KA-SAT into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The new satellite, offering a consumer service of up to 10Mbps download, should be tested and ready by April 2011.
Craig Roberts, Avonline's Broadband Services Manager, said, "We are delighted that KA-SAT has been successfully launched and we're excited about the faster services and increased functionality that will soon be available to our existing and new Tooway customers."
This is the second European satellite launch in recent months, the first being Avanti's HYLAS-1, with both aimed at providing faster broadband services via satellite across the whole of the UK to homes and businesses who currently cannot access a reliable broadband service. KA-SAT, however, is considerably bigger and has a notional capacity to serve up to two million households compared with Hylas' 300,000.
"As many as 30 million households in Europe are not served at all or get mediocre service," said Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen, "These could be people in the countryside or in the mountains, sometimes not very far from large cities. KA-SAT is an answer to that problem,"
Avonline sells a number of Satellite Broadband Services solutions. It's best selling product is the Tooway service with a market leading 3.6Mbps download and 384Kbps upload from £24.99 per month for consumers. Satellite Broadband also provides higher specification bespoke systems for businesses and consumers using the Avanti satellite products.
With installed satellite systems now costing less than £200, satellite broadband is quickly becoming the preferred product that delivers fast, reliable, cost-effective broadband to every part of the UK. With satellite, there is no need to wait years for the major broadband providers who just talk about what services may be available to rural communities in the future.
About Avonline Plc Avonline plc is one of the UK's leading Installation and Business Services companies. Established in 1981, it has around 500 engineers providing broadband and digital services to customers around Europe. Avonline has a specialist division deploying broadband satellite solutions to provide a high speed networks supporting VPN, VoIP, video and broadband data. Avonline supports the Government's Digital Inclusion philosophy and the Race Online 2012 initiative of which they are a partner.
For more information, contact Craig Roberts on 0800 130 3131 or via email craig.roberts@avonline.co.uk or visit our website www.avonlinebroadband.co.uk
