Displaying items by tag: satellite communications

French satellite company Eutelsat Communications has acquired NOORSAT, one of the leading satellite service providers in the Middle East, from Bahrain’s Orbit Holding Group.

Established in 2004, NOORSAT is the distributor of Eutelsat capacity in the Middle East, serving blue-chip customers and providing services for over 300 TV channels almost exclusively from Eutelsat’s Middle East and North Africa neighborhoods at 7/8° West and 25.5° East.

The acquisition of NOORSAT fits with Eutelsat’s broader strategy of streamlining distribution within selected core video neighborhoods where it can create value. It will allow Eutelsat to strengthen the long term commercial development of its market-leading video positions in the Arabic world and increase its direct access to end-customers, facilitating stimulation of High Definition TV take-up and the up-selling of incremental video services.

Michel Azibert, Eutelsat Chief Commercial and Development Officer, said: “NOORSAT’s capabilities and market knowledge will further consolidate our longstanding position in the dynamic Middle East video market. By integrating NOORSAT’s service platform and teams we are underlining our commitment to serving customers in one of the key markets within in our global footprint.”

Eutelsat has acquired 100 percent of NOORSAT for a consideration of US$75 million, debt free and cash free. The acquisition will add upwards of US$15 million to Eutelsat’s consolidated revenues on an annualized basis after the elimination of the capacity leased by Eutelsat from NOORSAT. Its slightly dilutive impact on Eutelsat’s EBITDA margin will be absorbed within the current margin objectives.

Satellite communications giant Intelsat said it will provide communications solutions for maritime customers in Latin America under an agreement with Brazil’s Mareste, a privately held firm based in Rio de Janeiro.

Under the agreement, Mareste will provide Ku-band communications services delivered by the Galaxy 28 satellite for the leisure, fishing and coastal sectors in Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

Mareste will package the satellite services with its Ello product, which includes antennas and hardware, to provide a cost-effective satellite communication system designed to serve smaller coastal and regional vessels, where physical space for onboard equipment and budgets can be scarce or limited.

“With access to Intelsat’s satellite fleet and services, Mareste will be able to rapidly grow into a market that has traditionally been underserved,” said Márcio Esteves, Mareste’s President. “These leisure, fishing and coastal sectors traditionally have been forced to settle for low-speed, expensive connections.”

Esteves added, “With faster, more affordable broadband connectivity, Ello will solve the communications challenges for these customers, delivering a cost-effective satellite system that can be easily and rapidly deployed on smaller vessels.”

Carmen González-Sanfeliu, Intelsat’s Managing Director, Latin America & Caribbean, Sales, said, “Satellites are delivering next generation broadband services to the maritime sector.  Intelsat is focused on simplifying the process of acquiring the services and integrating them into existing operations.”

Carmen added, “Intelsat makes it easier to access connectivity from across the Intelsat fleet, including the Intelsat EpicNG platform and IntelsatOne Flex for Maritime service. For network operators and service providers, Intelsat delivers accelerated time to market, ensured availability and secure delivery of bandwidth.”

French satellite firm Eutelsat claims sport is propelling the growth of Ultra HD. The company broadcasted the final matches of the Roland-Garros French Open live and in Ultra HD via FRANSAT, Eutelsat’s free-to-view platform for French TV homes. The new initiative, Eutelsat claims, highlights the momentum set by sport and the key role satellites are playing in the emergence of a spectacular viewing format.

This new broadcast meets consumer expectation to benefit from the finest image quality, says Eutelsat, particularly when it comes to sport that is one of the three top genres driving Ultra HD take-up. Homes able to receive the exceptional images from the Stade Roland Garros in Paris could select from two image standards: Ultra HD SDR, or using more advanced equipment, Ultra HD HDR in Dolby Vision and in Dolby Atmos.

Eutelsat regularly builds partnerships with leading broadcasters to offer exceptional live broadcasts of major events: Roland Garros with France Télévisions over recent years, and in 2016, 8 matches of the EURO 2016 with RAI, Italy’s public broadcaster. RAI is progressively enriching its library of Ultra HD content broadcasting via Eutelsat’s satellites.

Content producers are no longer holding back from the opportunity to offer highly immersive programs in Ultra HD to a growing number of viewers who have invested in new-generation consumer displays. Annual global Ultra HD screen sales were 66 million in 2016 and are set to rise to 120 million by 2020. The number of Ultra HD homes will rise from 28 million in 2015 to 335 million in the next five years.

2017 is already one of the most exciting for the development of Ultra HD, with new milestones achieved and new channels launched. Claudia Vaccarone, Head of Market Research at Eutelsat, says, “It’s no longer a matter of whether Ultra HD will become a mainstream service, but when.”

The latest edition of the Video Industry Survey steered by Eutelsat points to several trends, the first being that 66% of broadcast providers who responded to the survey already offer Ultra HD or plan to do so over the next five years.

The second trend confirms the predominant role of satellites for broadcasting Ultra HD content. 42% of channels and service providers favor satellites over other transmission options thanks to their cost-effectiveness, their ability to reach the widest possible audience and to deliver a stable, high-quality signal.

Thaicom Public Company Limited, a provider of satellite communications services on an end-to-end basis, announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd. and Starcor Media Technologies Limited for the development of an OTT (Over-the-Top) platform in Thailand.

The companies have partnered to create value-added services for the next generation OTT platform for enterprise, educational, government and telecom sectors in Thailand.  Under the agreement the companies agreed to develop content-rich OTT ecosystem services, including TV streaming and video on demand.

The creation of this joint OTT ecosystem will benefit telecom operators in Thailand, who will be able to seamlessly integrate the OTT services with their products and deliver their contents to multi-screen devices such as smart TVs, smart phones, tablets and notebooks.

“We would like to thank Huawei and Starcor for their trust in us to provide the satellite capacity and infrastructure needed to deploy OTT services in the near future in Thailand,“ said Patompob Suwansiri, Chief Commercial Officer of Thaicom Public Company Limited. “We are confident that the partnership with Huawei and Starcor will enable us to continue to provide the satellite capacity needed to fuel the new digital TV ecosystem. The OTT platform represents a new service for Thaicom; it will complement our existing satellite platform and carry it into the new digital era.“

Robin Lu, Director of Enterprise Business, Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Said: "This partnership with Thaicom and Starcor is an example of Huawei’s determination to champion OTT-as-a-service platform on a worldwide scale in cloud and big data era.  Satellite technology serves as an enabler to unlock the digital ecosystem for new market opportunities such as OTT.  Our goal is to equip our customers with the advanced industrial cloud and big data technologies, to provide a powerful, best-in-class OTTaaS platform which combines fast speed and rich media resources with the renowned reliability of Thaicom’s satellite technology.“

And in turn it will empower Huawei to create a powerful entertainment and educational OTTaaS platform value proposition in Thailand.

Ivan Zhang, President and CEO, Starcor Media Technologies Limited, said: "We are proud to be involved in the development of Thailand’s future digital TV and content ecosystem. Through the cooperation with leading telecom service provider Huawei and leading satellite operator Thaicom, Starcor is able to deliver an unparalleled new entertainment experience."

Under the MOU, Thaicom shall provide the network connectivity and data center services for Huawei and Starcor.  While Huawei will provide the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)—cloud computing that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet—Starcor will contribute the OTT as a Service (aaS) platforms, and integrate third party media and content management platforms.

The MOU comes at a time when OTT content continues to grow in popularity among viewers in Thailand.  The collaboration will enable the companies to help customers seize new opportunities in a rapidly changing media environment, by creating an offering tailored to their needs.