Gilat Awarded Premier VSAT Vendor for Mexican Government New Broadband Connectivity Initiative
– Over 7,000 SkyEdge VSATs will provide satellite-based broadband Internet connectivity to classrooms and government offices in underserved regions –
Petah Tikva, Israel, 5 February, 2013 — Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT), a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, today announced it has been selected by ALEF Soluciones Integrales (ALEF), a leading provider of integrated information technology solutions, and GSAT Comunicaciones (GlobalSat), one of Mexico’s largest satellite service providers, to deploy over 7,000 SkyEdge VSATs in support of the Mexican government new ‘SCT 10K’ service.
The ‘SCT 10K’ service is a Ministry of Communication and Transportation initiative to provide thousands of rural classrooms and government offices with satellite-based broadband Internet connectivity.
“Gilat and ALEF have a long standing relationship. Their faultless execution of previous projects, coupled with our familiarity of the integration capabilities and performance of the SkyEdge platform, allowed us the confidence to select Gilat as a premier vendor for this important national initiative,” said Angel Ruiz, ALEF’s General Manager.
Within less than four weeks of the award and in support of ALEF’s aggressive deployment schedule, Gilat has delivered and installed a new hub at the GlobalSat teleport in Tijuana.
“With a strong track record in supporting numerous government initiatives of this scale worldwide, Gilat’s commitment for a rapid and reliable deployment of the project was a major consideration in the award of this contract,” said Eric Cataño, GlobalSat’s General Manager.
As part of the project, Gilat will be deploying its SkyEdge WebEnhance VSAT, providing data rates of up to 2 Mbps. WebEnhance features upgradeable, high-capacity memory and is particularly suited for e-Education programs where broadband connectivity is required to be cost-efficiently delivered to multiple PC environments.
“Satellite-based communication is proving a fundamental part of any government initiative to promote the advancement of public access to communication,” said Russell Ribeiro, Regional Vice President Latin America at Gilat. “Whether it’s Internet access for rural classrooms or allowing citizens a broader range of government services, governments are looking for a solution that is both cost effective and easy to deploy. We are proud to be repeatedly selected for our ability to provide both with excellence.”
