Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) satellite Y1B prior to launch. Photo: Airbus Defence and Space

[Via Satellite 10-27-2016] In an effort to provide broadband services across Sub-Saharan Africa, Eutelsat Communications and Abu Dhabi-based international satellite operator Yahsat, have signed a multi-year agreement to provide capacity to Broadband for Africa, Eutelsat’s African broadband venture.

According to the terms of the agreement Broadband for Africa will use capacity on up to 16 Ka-band spotbeams on the Yahsat 1B satellite in order to roll out broadband services during the first half of 2017. Yahsat will support further expansion later in the year using capacity on 18 spotbeams on Yahsat’s Al Yah 3 satellite, scheduled for launch in early 2017. Both Yahsat 1B and Al Yah 3 are equipped with spotbeams with Sub-Saharan African coverage, which can be used for community and direct-to-user internet access using Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) customer premises equipment.

For Eutelsat, this capacity will replace the payload previously contracted on the Amos 6 satellite, which was lost in September following a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launchpad explosion. The company will rollout the African Broadband service during the first four months of 2017, thereby enabling Eutelsat to revert to its initial business plan of a revenue contribution of $16.3 million in fiscal year 2017-18 and $27 million to $30 million in fiscal year 2018-19.