Tring Communications picks Eutelsat’s Tooway service

TIRANA, Dec. 16؁lbanian TV and telecommunications service providers Tring Communications, a subsidiary of Albanian Satellite Communications (ASC), has contracted Eutelsat Communications to deploy the latter’s Tooway consumer broadband service. The Tooway contract was signed with Eutelsat’s broadband affiliate Skylogic. The service consists of a satellite dish and a modem connected to a PC, giving customers immediate broadband access with 3.6 Mbps on the downlink to user PCs and 384 kbps on the uplink to Eutelsat’s EuroBird 3 satellite.
In addition to expanding its portfolio of digital services with a satellite broadband offer, ASC’s Tring Communications has renewed and expanded its capacity on the W2 satellite with a multi-year contract signed with Eutelsat for broadcasting its Tring Digital pay-TV platform.
Launched last year from Eutelsat’s specialist 16 degrees East neighbourhood for the Balkan region, Tring Digital offers satellite homes in Albania the opportunity to access 22 channels, including Tring’s flaghip channels Tring Serial, Tring Super and Tring World.
Tring Digital already serves 30,000 homes and has a target in 2010 to expand with 50,000 additional subscribers. Tring Communications’ selection of the Tooway broadband service enables the company to deliver broadband across Albania, notably to homes and businesses in areas beyond range of its terrestrial infrastructure.
Operating totally independently from telephony networks, Tooway is said to provide broadband speeds and costs comparable to ADSL. Tooway is based on Eutelsat’s satellite coverage, the commercial and operating experience of Skylogic and SurfBeam technology developed by ViaSat.
In 2010, Eutelsat will expand Tooway with additional broadband access speeds up to 10 Mbps. These broadband speeds will come from the launch of KA-SAT, Eutelsat’s dedicated new satellite specifically designed for broadband delivery in Europe.