Asia Broadcast Satellite and Batelco team up to offer broadband satellite services throughout Middle East and Asia Pacific
Hong Kong, 13 April 2007 - Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and Batelco announced today that they have entered into an agreement for capacity on the Southern Ku-band beam of the ABS-1 satellite at the 75E orbital location for VSAT services in the Middle East and Asia Pacific. ABS will also support Batelco further by providing a complete, triple redundancy, backup service using its own VSAT support center from its facilities located in Hong Kong, ABS's Headquarters.
The ABS-1 satellite's Southern Beam has the widest Ku-band coverage in the world, expanding from North of Mongolia to the South of Thailand and across Eastern Europe, Asia and Japan, reaching a potential audience of several billion viewers in one contiguous, high powered beam.
"We are honored to have a premier regional operator such as Batelco to launch their new services with us", welcomed Tom Choi, CEO of ABS. "We are committed to supporting the development and success of Batelco to further establish itself as one of the leading satellite networking providers in the MENA region and will work to channel customers and projects to assist its growth."
ABS and its technology partners will provide key technical support and technology transfer to
enable Batelco to establish leading edge satellite applications:
a) Maritime VSAT for geo-tracking, voice, data and broadband access for ship-to-shore and
ship-to-ship communications.
b) Wide Area Enterprise Networking for delivery of LAN-like performance, overcoming highlatency
satellite connections for mission-critical applications like Citrix, SAP and MS Exchange.
c) Mobile VSAT services for back-pack and vehicle based broadband access and VoiP
services for "Broadband on the Go".
d) Micro-GSM BTS for delivery of GSM services to any location for reliable mobile
communications.
Batelco has recently renovated its Teleport by deploying a new hub and international gateway which is integrated into its secure MPLS network to allow Batelco, Bahrain's leading integrated communications provider, to expand its global reach through offering advanced satellite-based IP (Internet Protocol) services to access new markets.
Batelco already provides Satellite services to many financial, government and corporate institutions in the Kingdom. The expansion of these services using this joint alliance with ABS will enhance the provision of reliable high quality global connectivity to assist these sectors in growing their business in the region. The state-of-the-art services will also be a key factor in maintaining the Kingdom's status as a financial and investment centre of choice for international enterprises.
"By offering enhanced satellite services Batelco aspires to expand its global reach and customer-base giving the Company the opportunity to support its customers in new markets and into new geographies," said Batelco Corporate Affairs General Manager Ahmed Al Janahi.
"Customers will experience high performance and reliability, rapid deployment and installation, worldwide coverage and availability, and a cost-effective two-way Broadband VSAT service," he added.
About Asia Broadcast Satellite
Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) owns and operates the ABS-1 satellite (formerly known as
LMI-1) at the 75E location serving 4/5th of the world's population and 4 continents.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, ABS serves a global customer base with representative
offices in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Supported by a team of highly
experienced professionals, ABS offers a wide range of services, including DTH and CATV
distribution as well as IPLC, IP backbone, GSM backhaul, Maritime and VSAT services.
The ABS-1 satellite is a high-powered Lockheed Martin A2100 AX spacecraft which was
launched from a Proton on September 1999 from Baikonur. With on-board fuel for more than
17 remaining years of life, the ABS-1 satellite is located in the prime Indian Ocean region at
75E connecting Asia, Australia, the Indian Subcontinent, CIS, Middle East, Europe and
Africa. The satellite has 44 transponders composed of 16 Ku-band and 28 C-band
transponders.
For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.absatellite.net
About Batelco
Batelco is proud to be celebrating its 25th Anniversary as Bahrain's leading
Telecommunication Company. Serving both the corporate and consumer markets in the
most liberalised and competitive market in the Middle East, Batelco is committed to
delivering cutting-edge telecommunications to its customers in Bahrain and MENA. Batelco
is driven by an enthusiasm for delivering the best customer experience based on innovation,
affordability and reliability of products and services.
With significant operations in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Egypt, the Batelco Group provides voice and data services over fixed, wireless, and internet platforms, systems integration and enterprise solutions to Government and Corporate clients.
Batelco's specialised services cover the full spectrum of telecommunications solutions for residential and business customers and spans a comprehensive array of mobile services, international roaming, high speed Internet connections, WiFi, MPLS IP-VPN network provisioning and management, Datacoms services and high-tech, reliable fixed line services. Batelco is currently migrating to an all IP network as part of its 'Broadband Bahrain' national project. This major investment reflects Batelco's commitment for excellence which has reinforced Bahrain's position as a leading communication hub. The Company's shares are listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange. In September 2006, Batelco had a total capitalization of approx US$ 3.3 billion.
For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.Batelco.com