Irish telecommunications company Smart Telecom awarded Eutelsat a contract to help provide high-speed Internet access to schools across Ireland, Eutelsat announced June 9.

Eutelsat will provide its D-Star satellite broadband service under Smart Telecom’s contract with the Irish government. Smart Telecom received a 6 million pound ($10.9 million) contract to provide high-speed Internet access to 1,054 primary and secondary schools across the country using a mix of technologies, including wireless, digital subscriber line and satellite.

Eutelsat subsidiary Skylogic, which operates D-Star, will install antennas and terminals at 527 schools. Installations will begin in June and the full network should be deployed by the end of 2005, Eutelsat said.

The system uses the Eurobird-3 satellite to communicate with the Irish Department of Education‘s Internet portal via Skylogic’s hub in Turin, Italy, and Smart Telecom’s fiber network in Dublin, Ireland.

Eutelsat did not release the value of its contract from Smart Telecom.