iSAT Africa Purchases Ku- and C-band Capacity from Eutelsat

Photo: iSAT Africa

[Via Satellite 09-12-2014] Direct-to-Home (DTH) provider iSAT Africa reached an agreement with Eutelsat for Ku-band capacity on the Eutelsat 70B and C-band capacity on the Eutelsat 3B. The company began using Ku-band capacity Sept. 1 to broadcast Free-to-Air (FTA) digital channels throughout Kenya and East Africa. iSAT Africa plans to use the C-band capacity to aggregate channels into the platform from the company’s Nairobi teleport.

The first channels being distributed from Eutelsat 70B are multiplexed in Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite Second Generation (DVB-S2). Consumers can access the subscription-free service using commercial off the shelf digital FTA Set-Top-Boxes (STB) and a maximum 90cm antenna. According to Rakesh Kukreja, managing director of iSAT Africa, the service covers more than 160 million Swahili-speaking people through a single Africa-based uplink.