SES announces Ka-band broadband launch plans

SES has announced that it will launch its satellite broadband service, SES Broadband, in Ka-band in November.

The new service will offer download speeds of up to 20Mbps and upload speeds of up to 2Mbps. It will be marketed via SES’ partners NordNet, Vivéole and Wibox to end-consumers in France.

SES Broadband in Ka-band will be available pending the launch and beginning of operations of SES’ Astra 2F satellite. The satellite is currently scheduled for launch on September 21 and will be located at the orbital position 28.2 degrees East.

”We are very pleased that the Ka-band ground infrastructure is now fully operational, with a new generation of end-user terminals from Gilat Satellite Technologies and Newtec soon to be available to our customers,” said Patrick Biewer, managing director of SES Broadband Services. “With Astra 2F and the subsequent launches of Astra 2E, Astra 5B and Astra 2G in 2013 and 2014, we will be able to further expand our satellite broadband service in Europe with the additional Ka-band capacity on our fleet.”