[Satellite TODAY Insider 06-01-11] FSS operators Measat Satellite Systems and Thaicom are teaming up to bring satellite broadband services to Malaysia based on the Thaicom-4 satellite.
According to the collaborative agreement, which was executed by a Measat subsidiary and announced May 30, Measat will secure a major portion of the Ipstar capacity over Malaysia allowing the company to become the Ipstar National Satellite Operator (NSO) with exclusive rights to provide bandwidth capacity and its related broadband services in Malaysia.
Paul Brown-Kenyon, Measat Satellite Systems’ COO, told Satellite Today Insider the operator sees strong demand for satellite broadband services in the Malaysian market to support government and private sector initiatives aimed at extending broadband reach to rural communities. “This agreement with Thaicom sees Measat become the exclusive service provider for Ipstar services in the Malaysian market and is a strategically important venture. Along with broadband, we also see significant growing demand for 3G backhaul services. The agreement with Thaicom would allow us to meet this growing demand while at the same time releasing capacity on Measat-3 / 3a for video customers,” he said.
Measat hopes the deal will complement its efforts to building business that supports a number of high growth DTH platforms in the region. It already supports DTH platforms in markets such as Malaysia, India and Indonesia, and could look to expand its reach still further by adding a fourth market in the near future.
In terms of its deal with Thaicom, the total bandwidth capacity from the seven spot beams across Peninsula and East Malaysia on the Malaysian payload of the Ipstar satellite is approximately 1,894MHz, capable of delivering 3.3 Gbps of IP connectivity. This amounts to 7 percent of total bandwidth capacity of the Thaicom-4 (Ipstar) satellite. The Ipstar Malaysian payload will be marketed as Measat-5. In addition, Measat will secure the existing Ipstar gateway equipment. The gateway will be moved to the Measat teleport and broadcast Center in Cyberjaya.
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