[Satellite News 03-15-10] Talia has been preparing for the launch of its VSAT, consumer-focused Internet and telephone communications service for nearly 12 months, and the time now is right to bring it to market, COO Travis Mooney said.
   Talia Home, intended for subscribers in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, and Talia expects to attract at least 5,000 in the first year. “The goal of Talia Home is to provide Internet access to customers which were previously unable to get a reliable data connection. There’s a lot of talk about connecting people in the developing world, but there are potential problems in local infrastructure, and the cost of satellite connectivity can be quite high. By combining a system which is as automated as possible with low prices, we hope to find a position that is the best combination of price and reliability possible,” Mooney said.
   The demand for reliable Internet connectivity in the Middle East and Africa appears to be on the rise, said Maxime Baudry, a satellite analyst at Idate. “We definitely think there is a strong business case (for satellite broadband) in Africa and the Middle East. As a matter of fact, fixed terrestrial infrastructure is often poor or non-existent, and terrestrial mobile technologies are also limited, especially outside urban areas. Satellite is the only solution.”
   Talia has leased Ku-band capacity on the SES World Skies NSS-12 satellite to cover the Middle East and Europe and on Telesat’s Telstar 11N to cover Africa. The service was developed in partnership with iDirect, which will provide it Evolution technology. Talia Home also includes access to Talia Voice, a VOIP service designed to work in concert with VSAT services. “We’ve worked with iDirect a long time, but this was by no means an easy decision. We spent considerable time in both technical and commercial discussions with a number of major vendors, but in the end iDirect seemed the best fit for the requirement, both commercially and from a technology standpoint,” Mooney said.
   Individual user services start at $50 per month for an uncapped service, with business and enterprise services offered as upgrades. Complete hardware bundles —antenna, BUC, LNB and iDirect Evolution X3 remote — are available from $599. “The price points we’ve set are extremely aggressive, but based on our numbers, they do work out. Logistics are always an issue, and there’s the continual bugbear of international money transfer, but we are streamlining things as much as possible,” Mooney said.
   Talia also could look to expand the service into Asia and Latin America in the future. “We’ve always had a series of European services, and we expect to see a movement into that region for Talia Home. We’ve also been taking a long look at South America and the Far East for expansion,” Mooney said.