Advanced Television

SES wins Facebook capacity order

April 27, 2016

By Chris Forrester

Satellite operator SES says it has won a capacity order from Facebook to supply bandwidth over sub-Saharan Africa.

SES says the order includes capacity on 3 of its satellites (Astra 2G, Astra 3B and Astra 4A) to support Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi
. offering.

This capacity is additional to bandwidth already taken by Facebook with Eutelsat using capacity on a yet-to-be-launched Amos-6 satellite.

There is no mention of the length or overall capacity required by the contract, and some sources say the SES contract length is of limited duration. It is also unclear as to whether this SES deal covers Ku-band or Ka-band capacity (Astra 2B is only Ku-band).

More detail are expected to emerge during the SES Q1 results announcement due on April 29th.

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