Thai startup mu Space Corp has entered agreements with SES Networks and Hughes Network Systems to provide satellite-based broadband access in rural Thailand.
Through the agreement, mu Space Corp will provide broadband services to end users over SES Networks' satellite capacity and using Hughes Network Systems' JUPITER very small aperture terminal (VSAT) platform.
The company has contracted capacity on the SES-8 satellite and will use capacity on the SES-12 once it is launched in the second quarter.
“At mu Space, our mission is to deliver nationwide and reliable connectivity to everyone in Thailand, to improve the quality of life of the local people,” mu Space founder and CEO James Yenbamroong said.
““As such, we have been searching for the ideal partners to ensure that we can deliver reliable broadband services at the right price point. Together with the global experience of SES Networks and Hughes, we are confident of the high service quality that we will jointly deliver in Thailand.”
SES has meanwhile announced the launch of four new O3b satellites to augment its existing global medium earth orbit (MEO) fleet.
The four Ka-band satellites were launched by Arianespace on a Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center.
The new craft will join SES' existing constellation of 12 MEO satellites in May.
The MEO satellites' location four times closer than geostationary satellites allows the delivery of a low-latency, fiber-like performance, with up to 2Gbps of throughput, SES said.
The operator's fleet of O3b satellites serve customers in more than 40 countries. A further four O2b satellites are scheduled to launch in the first half of next year.
“We are very excited to have four more O3b satellites in orbit, and we look forward to them joining the constellation in May and serving our customers around the globe,” SES Networks CEO Steve Collar said.
“The demand for high performance bandwidth and networks continues to grow and, as the only successful non-geostationary broadband system, we need these new satellites to fulfil demand across a wide range of verticals and applications.”