Nice, France. Photo: Kurt Bauschardt

[Via Satellite 08-20-2015] Satellite Solutions Worldwide (SSW) a communications company specializing in rural, last-mile satellite broadband, has acquired Sat2Way, a satellite broadband provider in France for €825,000 ($925,000) in cash. The purchase, for 100 percent of the share capital, grows SSW’s presence in France, where the company has more than 1,000 customers. Sat2Way has more than 5,500 residential and business customers, and though it operates predominantly in France, it also has customers in Spain, Switzerland, and Belgium.

As a result of this acquisition, SSW becomes the second largest satellite broadband provider in France, and is targeting a market of nearly 1 million homes in the country, equating to 3 percent of French households that have less than 2 Mbps broadband coverage. The French government has incentivized the roll-out of satellite broadband for many homes and businesses, and is currently offering subsidies in many areas via its subvention plan.

“This is our third acquisition in a key European market since listing on AIM [a division of the London Stock Exchange] in May 2015; it underpins our growth ambitions and takes our subscriber base to approximately 20,000 customers, a 65 percent increase since float,” said Andrew Walwyn, CEO of SSW. “Following this acquisition, France is now our second biggest market after the U.K., and we expect to expand further there in due course.”