Eutelsat 8 West A coverage map. Photo: Eutelsat

[Via Satellite 11-21-13] Eutelsat and CaribSat, an Internet service provider for the French West Indies and French Guiana, signed a distribution agreement for the IP Easy satellite broadband service provided through the Caribbean footprint of the Eutelsat 8 West A satellite.

Starting in Guadeloupe, CaribSat is offering consumers and small businesses Internet connectivity with download speeds ranging from 512 Kbps to 6 Mbps from 29.90 euros ($41.21) a month. The service will be extended to Martinique, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barth and French Guiana starting Jan. 1, 2014. The user equipment for the IP Easy service comprises a one meter antenna and modem. Equipment costs are in many cases subsidized by local communities in regions benefiting from funds allocated for Internet connectivity.

Whereas 66 percent of the more than one million people living in the French West Indies and French Guiana have a PC, only 50 percent have broadband compared to 72 percent broadband penetration in metropolitan France, according to data from ARCEP, an independent French agency in charge of regulating telecommunications in France, from July 2013.