ST Engineering iDirect and Arabsat has strengthened partnership for expanded market access on Arabsat Badr-7 and 6A broadband managed services.
ST Engineering iDirect and Arabsat have extended their multi-year partnership to enhance connectivity in new markets throughout the Middle East, Africa, and West/Central Asia.
Currently, Arabsats Badr-7 Ka-band satellite and 6A Ku-Band satellite service locations are in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. Now, in collaboration with ST Engineering iDirect, the government-backed satellite service provider aims to expand its coverage to countries with poor infrastructure. This expansion aligns with Saudi Arabias broader initiative to invest in space, diversify from the media and broadcast sector, and bring satellite internet capabilities to remote and underserved areas through its VSAT broadband business.
To address the digital divide and provide essential services like e-learning and disaster recovery, Arabsat is deploying next-generation iDirect Hub infrastructure DCR/DBR. This infrastructure will expand its existing Dialog and Evolution-based ground systems across four new gateways, in addition to the current two. This setup will utilise and operate nearly 30 beams on Ka-Band, Ku-band, and C-Band, covering diverse geographical locations.
The iDirect Hub Infrastructure offers a scalable and flexible solution for Arabsats Dialog-based gateway deployments, enabling higher throughput, efficiency, and flexibility. It also lays the groundwork for Arabsat to transition to a virtualised, cloud-based hybrid infrastructure over time. As their network evolves, Arabsat can adopt Intuition and its standards-based, end-to-end orchestration capabilities to accelerate time-to-market and streamline service delivery.
Commenting on the partnership, Don Claussen, CEO at ST Engineering iDirect, said: “This partnership brings together best-in-breed ground system technology complementing Arabsats advanced constellation of HTS satellites. Were committed to delivering flexible and future-ready solutions that enable Arabsat to address a wide range of services from media and enterprise, to mobility and broadband, to help them to unlock new markets and growth. By leveraging cutting-edge, forward-compatible technology, we are empowering Arabsat to extend its reach, transforming lives across the EMEA region through seamless satellite connectivity.”
Alhamedi Alanezi, CEO and President of Arabsat, added: “Expanding our partnership with ST Engineering iDirect underscores our company-wide commitment to transforming the lives of communities in the EMEA region through satellite connectivity. ST Engineering iDirect provides best-in-class technology that will enable us to expand our services portfolio across the entire region to provide real-time and enjoyable satellite broadband experience with competitive market SLAs. We are dedicated to promoting the fairer distribution of broadband for a range of use cases, continuing to deliver the very best quality of service content for our customers, and ensuring we have a future-proof network so we can adapt and respond as market demands evolve.”
