Alcatel will acquire a 17.9% stake in SATLYNX, a venture that aims to provide two-way satellite broadband services across Europe. Satlynx was established in May 2002 by SES GLOBAL and Gilat Satellite Networks. With the new investment, the value of SATLYNX exceeds EUR 200 million and includes cash of more than EUR 50 million with additional contributions from each of the partners. The new company will also acquire Gilat Europe, which operates a pan-European VSAT network with 25,000 installed nodes. The new company, which will be based in Luxembourg, will offer wholesale services to other carriers and ISPs. Even with the current rates of DSL deployment, the company estimates that 7.3 million homes, or 25% of the potential European broadband market, will be geographically out of reach in 2005. It has initial agreements with BTOpenworld and Tiscali. The new company's name, its board of directors and management team will be announced in the coming weeks. As part of the deal, Alcatel, under contract to SES GLOBAL, will expand and provide SATLYNX's product line to include a DVB-RCS (return channel by satellite) platform. SES and Gilat have also executed an agreement to fund the development of a low cost, Ka-band version of Gilat's existing Skystar 360E products.
http://www.skybridgesatellite.com
http://www.ses-global.com
- In March 2001, SkyBridge, the broadband satellite venture led by Alcatel, began offering wholesale broadband IP services via satellite to service providers using leased geostationary satellite capacity. The announcement expands the operational scope of the company, which had previously been focused solely on launching its own satellites. SkyBridge itself will invest in the ground infrastructure and delivery platform for access services, a portfolio of content distribution services as well as value-added services such as e-learning. The company said it remained 100% committed to its own Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite constellation.
