Avanti turns to regional operator partnerships to expand satellite coverage

TAMPA, Fla. — U.K.-based Avanti Communications is seeking more partnerships to grow its footprint after securing its first major deal to use another regional satellite operator’s capacity.

Avanti announced a five-year partnership with Turkey’s Turksat Sept. 13 that pools more than 100 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) of Ka-band capacity between them across Africa and the Middle East.

The deal combines Avanti’s Hylas 4 and Hylas 2 satellites with Turksat’s recently launched Turksat-5B to sell broadband in areas with limited terrestrial infrastructure.

Turksat had signed a contract in 2019 to use capacity on Hylas 2 — which covers Europe, the Middle East, and eastern and southern Africa — for three years with an option for a one-year extension.

Their expanded partnership “is a milestone for Avanti’s business and the first time we are partnering with another strong regional satellite operator to access their capacity,” Avanti CEO Kyle Whitehill told SpaceNews. 

Whitehill said the company is “continuing to seek out partnerships that harness satellite technology, and help individuals, businesses and communities to thrive.”

He said Avanti has “committed 75% of our total investment” to bring more connectivity to Africa.

The company recently launched a managed satellite service called Avanti Extend, which is focused on helping mobile operator customers bring connectivity to remote and hard-to-reach areas across sub-Saharan Africa. 

“This enables customers to provide reliable cellular service to the 100 million people living in these challenging locations that would otherwise be impossible to reach using traditional terrestrial infrastructure,” he said.

Avanti is also currently building a satellite gateway in Senegal to extend the coverage of Hylas 4, the operator’s latest satellite, to West Africa.

While Avanti’s fleet of five satellites are in geostationary orbit, Whitehill said the company is developing hybrid network products and services that integrate capacity from lower orbits and terrestrial network capabilities.

Regional satellite operators are keen to partner with Starlink and other low Earth orbit broadband constellations to meet growing demand for bandwidth, executives from some of these companies said Sept. 13 during the World Satellite Business Week conference in Paris.