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Skylogic, Eutelsat's Broadband Affiliate, Teams With ViaSat for Satellite-Based In-Flight Communications to Business Jets

Posted on: Thursday, 4 January 2007, 09:00 CST

PARIS, January 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Skylogic, Eutelsat's broadband affiliate, has teamed with ViaSat, producer of innovative satellite and wireless communications products, to provide in-flight communications to business jets flying over Europe. The new service has already been selected by ARINC, a world leader in aviation communications, which announces that passengers on over 40 business jets flying over European airspace are now benefiting from satellite-based in-flight communications. ARINC provides users with European coverage through Ku-band capacity on Eutelsat's ATLANTIC BIRD(TM) 2.

The service supplied by ViaSat and Skylogic, called D-Star aero, provides business aviation passengers with office-in-the-sky communications, including access to e-mail, the Internet, voice over IP (VOIP), fax over IP (FOIP) and corporate intranets. On-board access to users through laptops is provided via a Wi-Fi hot spot installed inside the aircraft. Full service can work during taxi, take-off, flight and landing.

Through the European and Mediterranean Basin coverage supplied by Eutelsat's ATLANTIC BIRD(TM) 2 satellite and ground station services in Italy supplied through Skylogic, the new service supports aircraft-to-ground data rates of 128 to 256 kbps and ground-to-aircraft data rates varying up to 3.5 Mbps.

The full avionics system weighs less than 20 kilos, including a 30cm circular antenna which is tail-mounted and fits on larger business aircraft including Gulfstream GIV, GIV-SP, G400, GV, G500, G550, Cessna Citation X, Dassault Falcon 900, and Bombardier Global Express and Challengers.

ARINC supplies the service under its SkyLink brand to business jet manufacturers and is also working to make this high-speed broadband service a standard option on new business aircraft. The company was selected in October last year by Dassault Falcon Jet to fit the product on the new Falcon 7X ultra-long-range corporate aircraft. Due for certification in 2007, Dassault Falcon has already received more than 90 orders for the Falcon 7X between 2007 and 2010.

Arduino Patacchini, CEO of Skylogic said: "We are very excited about the cost-efficiency of this highly targeted broadband access solution for business aviation passengers and believe this new product for the aviation market truly corresponds to a demand from high-end business users to have seamless communications in all environments. The development of this service underscores our objective to expand and diversify our range of D-STAR satellite broadband products into transport markets."

About Eutelsat Communications

Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity commercialised on 23 satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. At 30 June 2006 Eutelsat's satellites were broadcasting over 2,100 television channels and 970 radio stations, of which over 900 channels were broadcasting via its HOT BIRD(TM) video neighbourhood which serves more than 110 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Group's satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat's broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates services through teleports in France and Italy that serve enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ 490 commercial, technical and operational experts from 27 countries.

http://www.eutelsat.com/ Eutelsat Press Contact Vanessa O'Connor Tel.: +33-(0)1-53-98-38-88 voconnor@eutelsat.fr Frederique Gautier Tel.: +33-(0)1-53-98-38-88 fgautier@eutelsat.fr Eutelsat Investor relations Gilles Janvier Tel.: +33-(0)1-53-98-35-35 Investors@eutelsat-communications.com

Eutelsat Communications

CONTACT: Eutelsat Press Contact: Vanessa O'Connor, Tel.:+33-(0)1-53-98-38-88, voconnor@eutelsat.fr. Frederique Gautier, Tel.:+33-(0)1-53-98-38-88, fgautier@eutelsat.fr. Eutelsat Investor relations:Gilles Janvier, Tel.: +33-(0)1-53-98-35-35,Investors@eutelsat-communications.com

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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