Yahsat to bring broadband access to remote UAE areas

A visitor to the Global Space and Satellite Forum in Abu Dhabi The internet broadband facilities that will be provided in the UAE by the Abu Dhabi-based Al Yah Satellite Communications Company's (Yahsat) second satellite will be a ‘game changer' for the country's internet provision industry, a leading communications executive said in the capital on Tuesday.
The satellite Y1B, which is scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter of this year, will be one of the first providers of internet broadband access to remote areas of the UAE and other countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and South West Asia, Suhail Mehrabanzad, Middle East and Africa assistant vice-president at Hughes Network Systems International (Hughes), told Gulf News on the sidelines of the Global Space and Satellite Forum.
Broadband subscriptions worldwide have surged in the past decade, with 479 million broadband subscriptions in 2010, which indicates a global household penetration rate of 22.6 per cent.
Hughes, the global leader in broadband satellite networks, is set to be the provider of the broadband system and support services to be used on the Yahsat Y1B.
The initial $27 million (Dh99 million) contract that was awarded to the firm in March extends for three years, with provisions for further extension.
According to Mehrabanzad, the full benefits of using this internet technology that is scheduled to be launched in 2012 will only be fully realised once customers in the region of coverage have tried it out.
"We will connect areas that do not have fibre optic internet access, and this will be especially relevant in remote areas of Africa," he said.
Despite the fact that speeds on fibre optic networks typically tend to be faster, the executive said that even customers in the fibre-connected cities of the UAE could find uses for the satellite internet services.
"Hughes has 600,000 customers in North America, and when we first introduced the broadband internet satellite services, we thought the small towns of Middle America would yield the greatest number of customers. Ironically however, even in a wired country like the US, our greatest customer bases are from Boston to Florida on the East Coast, and from Washington to California on the West Coast," Mehrabanzad said. "The satellite will also be the first in the Mena region to make use of the Ka-Band, a new spectrum which will allow for higher speeds on satellite-facilitated internet broadband," he added.

Meanwhile, Yahsat confirmed yesterday that its first satellite Y1A, which will be used for defence purposes by the UAE Armed Forces, as well as on the civilian level to create a HDTV hotspot within the Mena region, had successfully reached its point of operation at 52.5 degrees east.
Ka-Band

New wave spectrum

A new wave spectrum called the Ka-Band will soon be accessed by Mena region communication companies via Yahsat's Y1B and Arabsat's Arabsat 5C. "Compared to the existing Ku-Band, the new spectrum has more orbital slots and will allow Mena region firms to increase the number of satellites they own and operate, as well as the range of satellite services they offer," Suhail Mehrabanzad, of Hughes Network Systems said.