New distributors of Eutelsat’s TOOWAY Broadband Service

December 31, 2008 | By admin |

Eutelsat Communications has signed new agreements for the distribution of the Tooway™ satellite broadband service in Europe. Skylogic, Eutelsat’s broadband affiliate, will be directly responsible for all distribution contracts. The Tooway™ distribution agreements with new partners joins those already concluded in key European markets in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Switzerland.

Tooway™ is a new-generation high-quality and affordable broadband service designed for residential users, with equipment a fraction the cost of existing enterprise-focused satellite services. As a new broadband alternative for homes with low-speed dial-up, Tooway™ can at last change the price/performance paradigm for consumer satellite Internet access in rural areas across Europe.

Despite considerable progress over recent years, the digital divide is still very much a reality in Europe. Currently some 20 million homes across Europe cannot access ADSL or cable networks and this will decrease only slightly to 15 million homes by 2010. That’s why Eutelsat and ViaSat have
joined forces to deliver a new system for two-way broadband services.

Advantages of the system:

• Low cost broadband satellite modem and dish hardware
• Three different packages to meet your needs
• Upgrade your package as and when you need to
• Enabling high-speed connections
• No additional PC software or hardware required
• Built-in security against service and subscriber theft
• Virtual Private Networking (VPN)
• Possibility to add Video and VoIP capabilities with additional equipment
• Built-in TCP and Web acceleration functions
• 10/100 Mbps Ethernet interface
• Fade mitigation techniques provide high service availability
• Standard Ku-band and Ka-band ODUs available

Tooway™ operates in Ku- and Ka-band. Ka-band capacity is on Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD™ 6 satellite at 13° East, and Ku-band capacity on the company’s EUROBIRD™ 3 satellite at 33° East. In 2010 Eutelsat will deploy a dedicated Ka-band satellite with multiple spotbeams across Europe at its HOT BIRD™ neighbourhood (13 degrees East).

The service is based on ViaSat’s SurfBeam DOCSIS® two-way broadband satellite system. Unlike other consumer satellite Internet services, this system requires no connection via cable or phone lines. SurfBeam is well established in North America with more than 400,000 users since its launch three years ago.source