LUXEMBOURG & GALAPAGOS, Ecuador--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To help Ecuador accelerate its digital inclusion initiative across the environmentally-fragile Galapagos Islands, telecom provider CNT and SES today announced a major Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite capacity expansion agreement to deliver more life-changing broadband connectivity and 3G/4G/5G mobile services to residents, businesses, and tourists throughout the isolated archipelago in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
As part of the upgrade agreement, CNT has significantly increased its MEO capacity from 1.5 gigabits per second to 2.5 gigabits on SES’s O3b constellation, with plans to migrate to the recently launched next-gen O3b mPOWER system. CNT will leverage the boost in MEO satellite capacity to deliver high-speed Internet access, mobile and Pay TV services to homes and businesses throughout the Galapagos, including the largest island of Isabela. The Galapagos Island chain is about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, where SES’s O3b satellites have been enabling state-of-the-art connectivity since 2015.
SES’s MEO satellite network is fully capable of delivering reliable, ultra-high-powered connectivity to the extremely remote chain of volcanic islands. SES is bringing immediate network service to the Galapagos, well in advance of the long-awaited arrival of a subsea fiber cable in 2024 and without any environmental impact on one of the world’s most diverse and delicate ecosystems of plant and animal species.
“This milestone boost in MEO capacity represents the exciting next stage in a long-term partnership between SES and CNT dedicated to delivering on Ecuador’s promise to truly bridge the digital divide across the Galapagos Islands,” said Ralph Suástegui Brborich, CEO of CNT. “With the current O3b satellite service and O3b mPOWER connectivity on the way, the people, businesses, communities of Galapagos and the thousands of tourists who visit each year will have access to some of the region’s best Internet and 4G/5G mobile services available.”
“SES is thrilled to support the Ecuadorian Government and CNT in closing the digital divide throughout the Galapagos Islands with the far-reaching footprint of our O3b MEO satellites. These reliable, high-performance networks are forever changing lives and communities for the better, while having zero negative impact on this fragile environment,” said Omar Trujillo, Vice President of Enterprise Sales Americas at SES. “We’ve seen the difference our satellite-delivered connectivity has made throughout this remote archipelago, and we look forward to building on that success and accelerating Ecuador’s digital inclusion plan as we migrate to the O3b mPOWER system in the months ahead.”
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About SES
SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless connectivity around the world. As the leader in global content connectivity solutions, SES operates the world’s only multi-orbit constellation of satellites with the unique combination of global coverage and high performance, including the commercially-proven, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system. By leveraging a vast and intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES is able to deliver high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to the world’s leading telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners. SES’s video network carries ~8,000 channels and has an unparalleled reach of 369 million households, delivering managed media services for both linear and non-linear content. The company is listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com.