Eutelsat Group and the satellite broadband services provider YahClick of UAE's Yahsat have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), enabling YahClick to leverage capacity on Eutelsat's geostationary satellite, Eutelsat Konnect. The collaboration between the two satellite operators is in line with Yahsat's efforts to elevate its offerings and drive growth across its satellite broadband footprint in Africa to provide enhanced services and expand into new markets in Africa and beyond, the official release said.
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Enhanced Satellite Capacity
As part of the agreement, Yahsat will be able to use exclusive rights to Eutelsat's Konnect capacity over Ethiopia, an African market. Eutelsat Konnect, which has been in service since November 2020, is a high throughput satellite delivering resources for broadband services with 75 Gbps of capacity across a network of 65 spotbeams.
Originally covering Europe and Africa, the satellite's entire capacity is being progressively transferred to provide dedicated African coverage, the joint statement said.
Growth Prospects
Commenting on the partnership, Yahsat said: "This partnership shall enable us to further enhance our portfolio and drive the growth of our ‘YahClick’ broadband services to consumer and enterprise markets. Yahsat supported Eutelsat in the early years of its African Broadband journey, and we are happy to be collaborating once again to ensure our existing and future customers benefit from the highest level of service and availability."
Eutelsat added: "Yahsat's strong presence in Africa and the Middle East through the successful deployment of its YahClick satellite broadband service, together with the uptake we are seeing as we progressively transfer Eutelsat Konnect capacity to Africa highlight the buoyant demand for robust broadband services in the market, and the pertinence of satellite in connecting users, even in the most remote locations."
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Yahsat
YahClick is the data solutions arm of Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat). Based out of Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Yahsat provides C, Ku, Ka, and L-band satellite communications solutions for land, maritime, and aero platforms to consumers, governments, and enterprises.
According to the official release, Yahsat's fleet of 5 satellites reaches more than 80 percent of the world’s population, enabling critical communications including broadband, broadcasting, backhauling, and mobility solutions.
Future Satellite Expansion
In 2023, Yahsat placed an order for two new software-defined telecommunication satellites, Al Yah 4 and Al Yah 5, which are expected to be launched in 2027 and 2028, respectively.
