Artist rendition of the Eutelsat KONNECT VHTS satellite. Photo: Eutelsat

Global satellite operator Eutelsat has won a multi-year contract to deliver Ka-band satellite broadband services to Zimbabwe’s state-owned internet service provider, TelOne (Pvt) Limited.

Starting in March, Eutelsat broadband division Konnect Africa will deliver satellite services from the Eutelsat’s new KONNECT High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) to TelOne’s household and business customers located in remote and rural locations across Zimbabwe.

“By securing this premium capacity and service we will be able to pursue our mission of offering fast, reliable broadband services at an affordable price to homes, businesses, educational institutions and government departments all over Zimbabwe,” TelOne managing director Chipo Mtasa said in a statement. “We are passionate about making long lasting and meaningful connections through our services, and this will now become a reality for customers in even the remotest regions, in line with in our vision for a digitally enabled society by 2023.”

Financial details of the service contract were not disclosed.

The Eutelsat KONNECT satellite brings 75 Gbps of Ka-band capacity via 65 spotbeams to an area extending from Europe to Sub-Saharan Africa. The operator began commercial roll out of the KONNECT broadband service in November and just recently secured an agreement with distribution partner InterSat to connect a network of 170 post offices throughout Côte d’Ivoire. Eutelsat also has KONNECT capacity contracts in France and Italy with Orange and Telecom Italia, respectively.