New Record for Eutelsat's KA-SAT Satellite: Datagroup Equips Over 12,600 Voting Booths in the Ukraine With Satellite Broadband

PARIS, November 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

During the Ukraine's parliamentary elections of October 28, the KA-SAT satellite of Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) demonstrated its unique capacity to deliver massive data bandwidth to multiple sites, allowing real time video monitoring of over 12,600 polling stations. 

During election day and the following night, KA-SAT managed 25,000 simultaneous videostreams, representing total throughput of 2.5Gbps. This is the equivalent of a fully loaded medium-capacity satellite but only a fraction of the total 90Gbps available via KA-SAT.  

Datagroup, a leading service provider for data communications and a longstanding Eutelsat partner selected KA-SAT to ensure that one in three polling stations in the Ukraine was able to transmit webcam recordings on behalf of the Ukraine's Central Election Commission. Following this experience, Datagroup announced today in Kiev that it will use KA-SAT to launch consumer broadband services across the Ukraine from 1 December.

Over a record four weeks leading up to the election, more than 12,600 KA-SAT terminals were deployed by Datagroup and activated on the KA-SAT network at an average pace of 500 terminals a day. This significant effort was achieved thanks to the easy installation of KA-SAT terminals that are already used by thousands of consumers across Europe for the Tooway broadband service. The network performance during the elections outperformed all Datagroup's expectations, enabling observers to monitor video streams on the Internet in real time.

Alexandre Danchenko, CEO of Datagroup said: "Our experience with KA-SAT and Eutelsat during the elections enabled us to assess the exceptional performance, reliability and scalability of the KA-SAT infrastructure. We are delighted to move forward with the launch of consumer satellite broadband services which put the modernisation of our country's infrastructure into a new perspective by enabling users in remote regions to immediately benefit from high-speed Internet."

Jean-François Fenech, CEO of Skylogic, Eutelsat's broadband affiliate, commented: "This massive and fast deployment could only be efficiently achieved using the KA-SAT platform. It highlights how our technology is meeting and even surpassing expectations, and underlines how Eutelsat's decision to pursue a High Throughput Satellite model is fully in line with the broadband expectations of today's users. Our collaboration with Datagroup also paves the way for bridging the digital divide in the Ukraine, enabling users to benefit from broadband in the many locations neglected by other technologies."

http://www.datagroup.ua

About Eutelsat Communications

Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A. With capacity commercialised on 29 satellites that provide coverage across Europe, as well as the Middle East, Africa and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world's three leading satellite operators. As of 30 September 2012 Eutelsat's satellites were broadcasting more than 4,400 television channels to over 200 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Group's satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat's broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates high speed Internet services through teleports in France and Italy that serve consumers, enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ just over 750 commercial, technical and operational professionals. This culturally diverse staff comprises employees from 30 countries. http://www.eutelsat.com

SOURCE Eutelsat Communications