Company announces two new contracts

News agency Reuters has adopted a satellite news gathering (SNG) service from communications services provider Avanti Communications in South Africa, which is exhibiting at SatCom Africa 2014, taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre from May 20 to 21.

Deploying Avanti’s Hylas 2 satellite, which has 100% coverage of South Africa, Reuters has successfully broadcast full-time, live satellite news coverage of the developing Oscar Pistorius trial.

Reuters technical coordinator George Johnson says: “To supply consistently high-quality multimedia coverage to global audiences around the clock, our approach is to select leading providers who work hand-in-hand with us to achieve the best results.”

“Avanti’s service has enabled us to provide quality outputs during a live event of national importance in South Africa,” he adds.

Avanti COO Matthew O’Connor comments that “the company is delighted that one of the world’s most renowned news organisations has adopted its SNG service”.

The satallite’s Ka-band technology offers higher throughput services and significant cost savings, making it perfectly suited for deployment in the global broadcast industry, he adds.

“We look forward to continuing our relationship with Reuters to deliver highly dependable, flexible broadcast satellite solutions to other regions.”

Broadcasting supplier Broadcast Internet Protocol Systems (BIPS), which was formed in response to the increased use of Internet Protocol by broadcasters as a contribution medium, has supported the relationship.

Avanti’s Ka-band service provides several benefits, including lower power consumption and lightweight, easy-to-deploy terminals. “The successful coverage of such a high-profile trial is proof of Ka-band’s competitive advantage in global broadcast,” says BIPS director Helen Brown.

Further, Pan-African telecoms operator Gondwana International Networks has signed a new contract with Avanti Communications.

Gondwana will deploy both broadband and voice over Internet protocol services to thousands of consumer and enterprise customers using Avanti’s Hylas 2 satellite, under its iWayAfrica and Africa Online brands.

The countries served will include Kenya, Tanzania, parts of Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

“Deployment of Ka-band by small satellite dishes is an exciting and compelling pros- pect for consumer data communications in Africa. “The cost savings – combined with the flexibility and quality of the Avanti proposition – will change this market completely,” says Gondwana CEO Matthew Welthagen.

“The built-in flexibility of Avanti’s satellite fleet will provide the high levels of service required by Gondwana’s customers across five territories,” adds O’Connor.