The multi-year expansion of an existing deal between the two companies will see Intelsat leverage Etisalat’s teleport in Dubai as an expansion node for its IntelsatOne Flex service.
Etisalat’s teleport is an extension of its Smart Hub services, serving as one of the major satellite hubs in the region with more than 40 antennas hosted there.
“This agreement with Intelsat will introduce a new level of cooperation to our long-term relationship,” said Ali Amiri, group chief carrier and wholesale officer for Etisalat. “Leveraging the innovative Intelsat EpicNG platform and IntelsatOne Flex managed services, we will be able to deliver new, more powerful applications to our current customers as well as address new verticals.”
“Intelsat sought to build upon its already strong relationship with Etisalat as we developed our global footprint for the IntelsatOneFlex managed broadband service,” said Kurt Riegelman, Intelsat’s SVP of sales and marketing.
“Our expanded relationship with Etisalat will result in new applications as well as better services for customers throughout the region.”
It comes as the satellite firm also announced a new partnership with Luxembourg operator UHP Networks which will see the latter launch a broadband functionality-as-a-service platform powered by the Epic satellite range.
RUN, a FaaS data solution optimised to take advantage of the efficiency provided by the Epic range, will provide a cloud-based network management system available to enterprises, telcos and governments requiring flexible, high-bandwidth infrastructure.
RUN uses UHP’s low-capex, universal routers to initially provde the platform in Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia.
“RUN is designed to lower the barrier of entry for deploying high-throughput, in-county VSAT services,” said Vagan Shakhgildian, president and CEO of UHP Networks.
“Combining Intelsat EpicNG’s improved performance with UHP’s unique, software-definable VSAT platform addresses the initial cost for private network hardware and makes the service easier to manage. This enables service providers to cost-effectively deploy solutions to support both existing and emerging applications.”
The news comes after Etisalat announced the launch of the first IPX Exchange platform in the Middle East and Africa.
