The contract is part of Albania’s “Digital Age of Communications Agenda” to increase free public Internet access for Albanian citizens.

Eutelsat’s Skylogic affiliate will team up with longstanding partner Tring Communications to equip schools and post offices with the Ka-Sat satellite-powered Tooway broadband service. Tring Communications, the newest brand of regional private company Albanian Satellite Communications (ASC). 

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said the first of a total 1,000 access points are currently being deployed using an 8 Mbps satellite service.

“We have a very special terrain in our country and it is important that our villages, towns and cities do not suffer and are not discriminated against because the private sector does not wish to invest in a broadband infrastructure in these difficult or remote areas,” Prime Minister Berisha said in a statement. “By licensing private companies to build their own networks, the government has expanded the broadband infrastructure. The last mile can now be completed by the public sector or in partnership with the private sector.”