Futaris Beefs Up Alaska Teleport with C-band Dish for Eutelsat Capacity

Futaris’ Alaska teleport. Photo: Futaris

[Via Satellite 11-12-2015] Futaris, a company formed through the acquisition and merging of Alaska Telecom Inc (ATI) and AtContact, is investing in a new C-Band antenna for its Anchorage teleport to provide services in Alaska using Eutelsat Communications’ new-generation Eutelsat 115 West B satellite. With the antenna, the company will be able to provide greater Internet, broadcast, Voice Over IP (VoIP), and disaster recovery/business continuity services to Alaska.

Futaris is building out its facility in the center of mid-town Anchorage, positioned next to the city’s Alaska Communications’ Alaska Oregon Network (AKORN) fiber vault. All of Futaris’ earth stations are designed with fully redundant fiber, power, and RF infrastructure. The company’s full coverage of Alaska now includes locations such as the far-reaching Aleutian chain, South-east Alaska, and north of Barrow’s offshore.

Eutelsat 115 West B is the first all-electric satellite of Eutelsat’s global fleet, with 24 C-band and 41 Ku-band equivalent transponders connected to specific service areas including Alaska, Canada, Mexico and South America. Through the satellite, Futaris can provide direct or mesh connectivity in a single hop between Alaska and South America.

“Futaris plans to access Eutelsat 115 West B’s C-band capacity out of our two major teleports: Anchorage will primarily serve the Alaskan and Pacific Northwest U.S. market while our Sedalia, Colorado, facilities will allow us to reach the Western U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico as well and Central and South America,” said Futaris Acting President Valerie Pettit. “Both teleports are undergoing expansion to continue providing quality communications to our customers in the oil and gas, mining, energy, government, broadcast, tourism, and communication sectors.”